Pick one

    

     In 2004 I moved from a house in Kentwood to a condo on a little lake in Grandville. I loved Grandville's atmosphere. The carillon at noon. The multi-generational family of Grandville United Methodist Church. Huge baskets of flowers lining the sidewalk downtown. A bakery, coffee shop, library, bank and city offices all within walking distance of each other. 

     But what surprised me about my new home was the elections. It was not uncommon for candidates to be running unopposed. That was a rarity  in other communities where I had voted. The unopposed candidates made me feel like the election was a sham. I didn't have a choice.  

      I had never been a political person and was too busy to become one. But over the 18 years I lived in Grandville,  the demands on my time lessened and my interest in politics increased. This year, I realized an unopposed election was about to happen again. No one had registered to run against Stan Ponstein who is seeking reelection as Kent County Commissioner. I decided I couldn't sit on the sidelines complaining any more. I needed to step up and be the change I wanted to see. 

     Every voter deserves a choice. 

Got my vote

    

Working the polls for elections can be a long, long day. But it has its rewards.

      Yesterday, for instance, was fairly slow. Primaries don't attract as many voters. But we got an early surprise. We arrived at 6 a.m. as usual to set up. A poll challenger showed up at 6:30, his credentials in hand.  A second poll challenger showed up a few minutes later. Evidently they thought set up began at 6:30 and were  sorry to have missed the first steps.  

     We had been warned that more volunteers were applying for poll challenger credentials so we had been expecting one to stop by during the day, but two before the polls opened was overkill. We had plenty of room so we set aside a table and two chairs for them and got to work.  One of the poll watchers asked if I felt  intimidated to have him looking over my shoulder as I compared voter applications to the drivers' licenses. 

       "No," I said, "but I'm afraid you are going to get bored."

         And the poll watchers probably did get bored. One left about 10 a.m. and the other at 1:30. But I was entertained by the voters. Like the elderly woman who had trouble filling out the application to vote and was really overwhelmed by the ballot. She asked for help a couple of times, but seemed determined to wade through all that small type and figure it out. Her husband sat nearby and watched.

        We worried that she would make the mistake of cross voting, a common error in primaries where voters are instructed to vote for only one party, Republican or Democrat, not both.  When she finally finished her ballot and placed it into the tabulator, everyone held their breath. We were so afraid she had made a mistake and it would be rejected. We almost wanted to applaud when it was accepted as a successfully cast ballot. 

          And then there was the 30-year-old from Venezuela. He was voting in his first election. He had become a citizen a year earlier. "I have researched all the candidates and I am ready to vote," he announce excitedly. Then we explained that since this was a primary he could only vote for one party. That wasn't part of his research. But he too voted successfully and received the coveted "I voted" sticker.

       More than a dozen people didn't vote successfully on the first try.  "But the Democrats don't have a candidate for that office so I voted for the Republican." Sorry, you can't do that. Another had his ballot rejected because he marked his choice with big check marks instead of blacking in the circle. 

        As the day wore on the pace picked up. From 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. we had a steady stream of young couples getting off work, some still dressed in "scrubs" from a hospital shift. Young and old, black and white and several shades between. They came to vote. They came to exercise the privilege of living in a democracy. 

        I was sorry the poll challengers didn't stay longer., until we counted down the last minutes to 8 p.m. Until we closed out the tabulator and everyone signed all three copies of the final tape. Until we went through the write in bin and found two votes for James Craig. Until we packed it all up to take to the clerk's office.  Election Days are long, but a capsule of America. I love them.