What a great day to vote

Todd

It almost felt like a summer's day when Todd and I struck out for the Town Hall to vote today.  They wouldn't let me register Todd...something about concerns over me influencing his vote.  I wonder why?
But the point of my post today is just to simply tell you how good it feels every time I go to vote (and to me it's a much more enjoyable and personal thing to do in person) because of what it means to be able to do this, and to also mention a few of the voting obstacles and restrictions of that freedom that we as a country have overcome simply by getting out there and exercising that most precious of all rights.
This ties in to Question One that we are voting on here in Maine.  Voting yes would overturn a law the Legislature enacted requiring people to register at least two days before voting day.  I can tell you that that would have impacted yours truly today because I moved less than a year ago.  Under the new law I would have had to make two trips, one of them completely unnecessary, just to be able to exercise my right to vote as a United States citizen and a resident of the State of Maine.  The more difficult they make it for you to be able to vote, the harder it is for you to use your vote to keep them under control.  Don't EVER let them start because it's always been difficult for some reason, here in the Land of the Free, to ensure that we all have our rights.

A couple of things that I am not quite old enough to have experienced but my mother, just one generation older than myself, did experience; and those things are:  You used to have to be a land owner before you were eligible to register to vote and there used to be such things as poll taxes, having to pay to exercise your rights.  Now why do you think those things were in place?  So that the wealthy would have control and the ability to yield power over those who were not so fortunate.  It is no different with Question One; they want to be able to keep the undesirables from voting, mostly because those undesirables tend to vote differently than those who want to restrict voting rights.
Let us also not forget that it was not all that long ago that certain segments, shall we say, of our society, even though they were citizens, did not have the right to vote and, therefore, were not fully vested in our democratic system; those people being women and people of color.   So just remember that the right to vote is precious and it is what gives all of us the power to not be controlled by the few.  They are always trying to weaken us; example being trying to restrict the rights of workers to organize.  They have the power of money, therefore influence; our power is in numbers and they know that.  Don't let them fool you into thinking it's in your interest to have the rights of individuals restricted.

Postscript:  After voting, Todd and I drove over to the Maine Store for a breakfast sandwich, personally made for yours truly by my cousin.  Yes, Todd got a smidge.  And we said hi to Unc and Auntie as well.

Second Postscript:  I'm lucky that I didn't have to drive back home before registering.  You need to have something with you that says you live in the town you're registering in.  Well, my driver's license isn't up for renewal, so it has my old address; and if I had remembered to bring a copy of a bill with my address on it, I would've been hard pressed to find one since I pay all my bills online and have gone paperless.  Luckily, I had already registered my car in town and they were able to verify that, saving me a trip home to look for something with my address on it.