Sunny Morning at the Polls Despite Dreary Day

I confess I’m a feeler. Anyone who has done a >Myers-Briggs test knows what I mean. My first take on things is how I feel about it. So this morning when I went to vote I wasn’t too happy about the curmudgeonly ladies in line behind me who wondered aloud why lunch or coffee wasn’t available given the long lines. They compared the line to waiting for a flu shot and sarcastically predicted “We’ll be out of here by tomorrow.”

I couldn’t help but think about a young university student I met recently who had been conducting election monitoring in Mauritania. She told me that a pivotal moment during her experience occurred when one morning she woke before the sun was up to arrive early at the polls. The polling station was a one-room schoolhouse made out of old wooden boards near the only paved road in town. She was shocked to see an unbelievable turnout — over one hundred men and women dressed in colorful robes from this small village were already quietly in line to vote. She said she was inspired by the Mauritanians’ civic energy and passion and wanted to take it back to the U.S.

Standing in my own line in Montgomery County, listening to the ladies’ complaints about no coffee, I realized she had. As I moved from line to table to voting booth to friends and neighbors still waiting in line I was transported to that brilliant sunny morning in a village faraway and a kindred energy and passion for civic responsibility made me feel great.

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