My daughter called me today to let me know that she received her absentee ballot. She is so excited to be voting in her first ever Presidential election. It was an interesting phone call. Below the fold is what transpired in the call.
Trouble: "Hi, Mommy...guess what I got in the mail today?"
Me: "Your absentee ballot?"
Trouble: "How did yoou know? Oh. wait, I forgot...you're psychotic, I mean, psychic."
Me: "And don't you forget it! You did vote for Obama, right?"
Trouble: "It was sort of a toss-up between Obama and Nader (hysterical giggles) OF COURSE I voted for Obama...My IQ is too high to let me vote for anyone else."
Me: "Just checking."
Trouble: "The thing is, Mommy, that there are other things on the ballot and I don't know who to vote for. I haven't been able to keep tabs on Alabama politics here in Tennessee."
Me: "Are you saying that you want me to tell you how to vote?"
Trouble: "Not exactly...I just want your opinion, because you know about these races and I don't. Besides, I value your opinion."
Me: "Okay...what do you need to know?"
She then went on to list every item on the ballot. She looked at the Senate race and said, "Isn't Jeff Sessions Alabama's version of McWeaselpants?" I said, "Pretty much, yes...of course, Richard Shelby is just as bad." She said, "Okay, what do you think of this Vivian Figures lady? She's a Democrat." I told her that Figures has served us well in the state legislature and that I think she is a fine choice to replace Sessions. Then she got worried, because Spencer Bachus had no opposition. I told her that was normal and she could either leave that one blank or write in the name of someone she would rather see. Her response was, "Okay...for 6th Alabama Congressional District...Mickey Mouse."
She kept going down the list, and if I didn't have an opinion, she said she would just vote for the Democrat. Then, she got to the amendments list. There are 6 or 7 amendments on the list and we went through those. She had question about why most of the amendments had to do with a specific county or city rather than the entire state. I explained to her that the Alabama Constitution states that cities and counties have to go through the state via constitutional amendments if they want to make changes in the way things are done. She thought that was just stupid.
At any rate, we went through the ballot and she was really excited. She still had me on the phone as she ran around her dorm yelling "I voted! I voted! President Obama, baby!"
It was really sort of amusing. I had forgotten what it felt like for me when I cast my first ballot in a Presidential election. It's great to see young people so fired up, you know?