It is Election Day!

When I was younger and lived in a little rural town in Utah, Election Day was a huge event. My parents went to vote at the National Guard Armory. My mom was in charge of making cookies or quick breads to take to the Party's Town Headquarters. After the polls closed, the two parties, Democrat and Republican had parties afterward and waited for the results to come in. My parents didn't stay all night, but they went and talked and watched the early results. It was always so exciting! In the other towns I have lived in, there hasn't been that kind of camaraderie. I know that you can go to the local Party's headquarters, but they don't have quite the following here that they did in Utah. Sad.

Here where I now live, we used to go the schools and vote. The children would have a half day, to help with the congestion in the parking lots at the schools. Now we vote in other buildings throughout town. I vote at the Portuguese American Club. It is a huge two story building that the Portuguese Americans built in the early 60's as a place to have events for families and for their part of the community. Now people rent it out for family parties, school functions, weddings and receptions, etc. It has a big open floor with a stage, much like an LDS Church's cultural hall. There are four precincts that meet to vote there. The parking is terrible! There will be police presence, just to help with the parking and to help keep the voters protected from picketers.

My children have been following the campaign. We talk about the issues and even Mikaela asks questions. It is good to help them to understand the process. What a great year to be a Social Studies/History/Political Science/Economics teacher. Just think of all the topics you could discuss. There would be no end to the daily lessons that this year has brought.

God Bless America. I hope you will get out and vote!