I four helped people vote on Saturday.
I am an election judge and I volunteered to help out at a nursing home.
The home arranges with the Election Commission for judges to come in and help the old people vote.
Their stories are enlightening and poignant but they want to vote! They are voting absentee ballot and the nursing aides cannot help them, there are too few and they need to do so many other things.
They are brought in. They are in wheel chairs. They can't see very well (neither can I) and they can't hear very well, and they can't make their marks very well, and they apologize that their signatures have changed since their stroke. But they want to vote!
It is heartening to see someone, born in 1911 still ready to vote. Anna was born before women had the right to vote but she had still wanted to participate. Since she couldn't see too well, I read her the ballot. She said she didn't know any of the names. OK, let's go on to the next group, maybe one will help you decide. I read the whole ballot and all the names. When we got to the judges, "should they be retained, yes or no", she still didn't know them. I told her it was all right since the only way you might know a judge was if you were in trouble and had to be in court! That broke the ice for her. She laughed and had me mark "yes" for all the judges for her. Then she said, "I'm a Democrat." I asked her, do you want to vote for all the Democrats? "Yes", was her answer. I turned the ballot over and started again. "I want to vote for Barack Obama" she said, So I marked her ballot for him. I read the ballot again and this time she voted for the Democrats.
I am not sure why she seemed so much more alert, maybe it was the laughter, maybe it was that she needed attention and someone to just talk to her, or maybe it just took a little while for the "mental juices" to start circulating. But she voted and was smiling when she left. She was wearing her "I Voted Today" sticker and thanked me and was beeming!
Another elderly Lady wanted to vote for all the women. She lamented that all the names seemed so "white"( she was white too!) and that there didn't seem to be any Latinos or Blacks so she voted for the Greek and the Italian and the Bohemian just to mix it up a little! Yes, she voted for Obama too!
A young man came in, He was in a wheelchair and seemed to have Cerebral Palsy. He voted proudly for Barack Obama. He marked all his circles to darkly and the felt tip leaked though to the other side...so his ballot was spoiled. He got another one and I copied his marks exactly in the same spaces he had indicated. He proudly announced that he was a citizen and he was glad he voted!
Nursing homes are not only for the old, there are plenty of young people in their 40s and 50s in there. In the past, I have helped a young woman (in her 50s) vote, she was paralyzed from the neck down and could only speak, a former Math teacher with MS who looked to be in his late 40s, numerous people bedridden from severe strokes and car accidents. But they want to vote and can only do so with help.
Many Nursing homes do not offer this opportunity and are on a waiting list. Many of the residents don't apply for the absentee ballot, we only had a list of 20 but the home had over 100 residents!
Nursing homes are depressing. The room we were in had computers and tables and loads of books and Fooseball games. They had no chairs by the computer because the residents used wheelchairs. I understood that, but when I asked when do they come down here...I was told that this room for for the families when they came to visit....Oh, Oh.
That explained the sad, blank stares of the people in wheelchairs crowded around the nurses station in the halls. What a few balloon wouldn't do to wake some of them up.
Voting was a highlight of the week there.
We so need better healthcare. We so need better service the helpless and needy in our society.
On Tuesday, THE BIG DAY, I will be an election judge for my precinct. I will get everyone through smoothly and guickly...and I hope to keep that line moving!
Hooray for the vote! GOTV!!!!!