Yet another reason why we all need vote-by-mail:
Mary grabbed the banister with both hands ... as though it were the rope to a lifeboat ... gingerly making her way down the steep steps that lead to the cafeteria of Immaculate Conception School in Bloomfield, her polling station during the May 16 primary. At 82, this avid voter confessed that she wasn't sure if she could again risk tumbling down the stairs.
"Probably this is the last time I'll come to vote," said Mary (who declined to give her last name). "I have bad knees." In fact, she said, a lot of her elderly neighbors in Bloomfield wouldn't venture out to vote for fear of a fall.
And she's not even in a wheelchair. She can at least reach the screen and push the buttons on her own.
Me? I get to tell a poll worker which buttons to push. I've been lucky - they actually choose the ones I want and don't show signs of disapproval when I vote liberal in rural red California. At least so far. But can you imagine if they did? Everyone gets to vote his or her conscience in anonimity.
Everyone except people like me.
So what can be done? Call your local Dem Party and ask to help register the elderly and disabled. Go volunteer at your local polling place. And please, call your state legislaters and get vote-by-mail like Oregon has.
Make sure not only that every vote counts, but that everyone who wants to vote can.
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