"Duty & delight" are words we use in church to express our accepting a responsibility that is an honor and pleasure to do. I told my kids, on the way to voting, that for citizens in a democracy, it was a duty and delight to vote.
Early voting started today in Utah, although extra-early was open for a couple weeks before this. There seems to be very high interest in voting this year in Utah: not just the first LDS presidential candidate, but also several high-profile races with new congressional districts.
Early voting for Utah voters opens Tuesday
About 40,000 people registered to vote on the state's online website Monday, the last day to register to vote, according to Utah elections director Mark Thomas. In Utah County, elections officials had zero voter registrations to process on Monday, but came to work Tuesday morning with a list of 7,000 names to process.
"A lot of the counties got inundated late Monday," Thomas said. "It's really been quite impressive."
A presidential race that includes a candidate with ties to Utah — Republican nominee Mitt Romney — a couple of high-profile congressional races and two constitutional amendments appear to be generating interest among voters this year, Thomas said.
Already, 77,000 absentee ballots have been returned — more than a third of the 226,000 ballots that were mailed this year.
And there are still two weeks to go.
In 2008, voters returned about 86,000 absentee ballots total.
Thank you to the Oklahoman for carrying this AP article even though I could not find it on local news sources.
I like to vote early. I like to take my kids, avoid crowds, take photos. I share my ballot with my kids, so I am a kossack who has never pushed the buttons for Obama. Son took his turn four years ago, and about 18 months ago daughter piped up that now it was her turn. I also vote early because I never know what will happen on Election Day: storms, migraines, sick kids, etc. Additionally, Utah has a voter ID law that I dislike, so by voting early I have to show an ID anyway and it doesn't seem to bother me as much.
I printed the ballot at home, did a bit of research on school board, judges, and constitutional amendments. The Vote Utah site was easy to use, with ballots, voter registration and registration verification, and links to issues. I believe this information is available in hard copy at county offices.
The kids and I marked up the ballot for which buttons each one of us would push. Now that they are 11 and 9, we needed time to divide up the votes, and negotiate how many each of us to take. Since daughter took Obama & Biden, son and I split up the other best ones. :-)
The kids had a few questions, and they are learning something goofy in school about this, so we talked about constitution, democracy, republic, the 3 branches of our government, etc. The Utah Legislature has decreed that we live in a "compound constitutional republic" because they don't want the letters D, E, M, O, C, R, A or Y together in any official capacity.
The way was marked clearly, along 2100 South, as we approached the county offices. There were even special parking signs!
I was lucky to have two tour guides to help me in case I was lost:
The voting area looked well-prepared. Plenty of signage in the South Building. A large seating area, and rope lines already prepared.
There is a long table for poll workers, where I showed my ID and was recorded in the registrar. Daughter was especially interested in how the voter signs upside-down. I received my electronic card and the poll worker took our picture:
I put my camera away to go into the voting room. There were approximately 2 dozen machines set up. I guided the kids to a relatively empty corner, so there was room for all 3 of us, slid my card in, and started the process. The kids were both very cooperative with the sharing and turn-taking. We've come a long way with that ;-)
On our way out the door, we gave back the card, and received our stickers. In the lobby, we met a young lady who was voting for the first time! She said she was 25yo, and had 3 daughters with her, including an 8-week old infant that my son was fascinated with. I told her congratulations and tried to express how happy I was for her. I wish I could have watched her kids or asked if she needed help. :-(
Tuesday is the day my kids spend with their dad, so we needed to hit the freeway. With the unfamiliar route after the voting time, I wasn't sure how long it would take to get to his place. We did have time to stop for a small post-voting treat for the kids, their choice of a single serving.
On the freeway after voting, my daughter said, "It's a good thing Romney chose a younger co-president." I nearly cracked up on the on-ramp from downtown to I-15! Son corrected her and I clarified, then we talked about strategies for choosing a running mate. Which led to a brief discussion on assassination. Which was a weird kind of way to wrap up the voting experience. I told the kids about the Swedish PM who was assassinated, and explained that it was very rare these days in general. The kids also seemed assured when I told them than in the US, presidential attackers received the most scrutiny, biggest people-hunt, trials as necessary, and harsh punishments.