One Dirty Word: Politics

 The 2008 Election of Barack H. Obama

Now that my stint as a “Poll Inspector” is over (for now), I feel a little freer to express myself and not jeopardize my valued position assisting people at the polls. I decided to apply for a job as Poll Inspector after I retired for two reasons. First, I love meeting new people, and the extra $10.00 an hour would give me some fun money. Little did I know that the job would become much more to me.

I have worked at four different polling places. The poll I am assigned to is at the Open Arms Baptist Church. The building doesn’t have that warm, fuzzy churchy feeling since the building used to be the home of the General Motors Training Center. The corridors of this church are painted a fluorescent green and “highway worker” orange that send my brain off to Oz. The daycare occupying the building would probably have a calmer group of kids if the walls were painted a soft blue or pale yellow. The long walk to the ladies’ restroom from where voting is has ghosts of men learning how to fix cars and counting the hours until 5 o’clock. The building has been here for as long as I can remember. Across the street was the Midway Drive-In Theater, where I saw “Woodstock” and “Dawn of the Dead” too many times. The training center in no way resembles a church, except for the images of Jesus all over the industrial concrete walls.

Andy brought me a handsome campaign button from the Obama rally he attended. He said there was a big crowd I would not have wanted to negotiate. I was so happy that Andy could see Obama, and the button he brought me was a big surprise. That’s my boy!

                                                         Andy wearing his Obama shirt  

    I vividly remember the day I braved the crowd to hear Ronald Reagan speak at the Exhibition Hall at the Civic Auditorium. I was too young to hear John Kennedy speak in Hemming Park (my parents, whom I depended on for transportation, said in no uncertain terms, “Forget it.”)

I only saw Gerald Ford’s limo speeding down Baymeadows Road on his way to Epping Forest to meet with Anwar Sadat. The dark windows of Ford’s limo and his small motorcade kept me from seeing him. I was late to report to work that night due to the roads closing along the President’s route. No one could enter or exit my apartment complex for several hours.

Election Day was exciting, to say the least. Voters lined up when the poll opened, and the voters trickled in steadily all day. My experience working at “Early Voting” was a real eye-opener as far as the turnout predictions. Since the Election Day turnout was down, I believe the buzz about long lines on November 4th scared everyone into voting early, which was good. It kept me constantly busy for the seven days I had committed to working, a then Election Day was a breeze with a lower-than-expected turnout.

At Early Voting, I was pleased to see people who were blind, people who were deaf or hard of hearing, people who could hardly walk (much less own a driver’s license), and people who were on their way home from just having been in the hospital. People from all walks of life turned out for this critical election. I felt this was a profound statement of the value of a vote. Some people had already received absentee ballots but wanted to vote in person due to a lack of trust that their absentee ballots would count. On the other hand, I was dismayed to see a group of about eight or so indigent men herded in by one woman. They appeared to not know what was happening and needed assistance to vote (at least according to their tour guide). Each agreed to and signed the required affidavits, and they certainly did have the right to vote, but on the outside, it appeared that they all were not really “with it.” 

On the bright side, I did get to see many familiar faces and a few friends who were happy for the convenience of Early Voting and expressions of gratitude from many who thanked us for volunteering (apparently thinking we were working for free.) All poll workers are paid, and I expect to reap a little over $700.00 for working a week of Early Voting and Election Day. I would have needed more to buy a Rolex, but I would have worked the polls for nothing.

I enjoyed several Kodak moments with elderly voters who embraced us after assisting them to a seated voting station. Still, the most gracious voter I encountered was a non-English-speaking woman from Cuba who could view a ballot in Spanish on the AutoMark screen and cast her vote successfully—the reward for doing our job was a kiss and a hug. And you know me. I’m always looking for someone to speak Spanish with. I did have problems coming up with the words I needed and should have known, but was able to tell her “No te preocupes, la votación con la máquina es muy fácil.” y “¡Usted puede utilizar la computadora y Usted hizo un trabajo perfecto! ¡Congtaulations! I plan on being better prepared and knowing mas fraces y palabras en la futuro. Most of you won’t be surprised that my favorite candidate won. I’ve been as emotional as the next person this time around. The country has done the right thing. I don’t care what anyone else has to say about this. I’ve heard enough of that on TV to last me a lifetime. The woman at the checkout at Publix volunteered to me that she watched her hero McCain’s concession speech to Obama and then “prayed for our nation” before going to sleep. I did not respond. I’m proud to say that Florida went for Obama.

    I was so disappointed that most people believe that a marriage should only be defined as a union between a man and a woman. What kind of problem is this going to cause anyone, anyway? It was a gay rights issue, and I feel nothing but pity for those who want to run other people’s lives by getting the government involved in the bedroom or any room.

Another “only you, Claire” encounter happened the day after the election after Joyce had already tried unsuccessfully to find the two of us newspapers. I still collect newspaper headlines larger than two inches and want an “Obama WON” to add to my collection. The only papers she found in our neighborhood were located in a vending machine outside the door of Larry’s Giant Subs. The only problem was that no one had been able to retrieve the papers from the newspaper vending machine because the machine door wouldn’t open after depositing the required $.75. I’ve learned two things: 1) If you stand around long enough, someone will come along and ask if you are having a problem, and 2) if you need to break into something, you need a kid.

The woman who asked if I was having a problem was an employee in the salon next to Larry’s. She had also tried to get a newspaper out of the broken machine. After we both shimmied and shook the machine unsuccessfully together, we satisfied ourselves it was broken. She shared her amazement, gratitude, and joy about the election’s outcome. I gave her an extra Obama button I had in the car that she said she would cherish forever. After blowing our noses and drying our eyes, a kid with excellent newspaper machine entry skills and newspaper acquisition determination drove up and managed to have the entire cover off of the TU-owned vending machine in less than 30 seconds, exposing the coin box and door opening mechanism. Did you know that there is a 9-volt battery in these things? Why? I don’t know.

Thinking this was why the door wouldn’t open, he took the battery back to his car to coax his buddy into testing the battery by touching the terminals to his tongue. Some kids can be stupid and will do this for a friend…so no, the battery wasn’t the problem…. The “Ouch, why’d you do that to me?” coming from the passenger seat of the small beat-up car indicated that we had a good battery. The kid and I pooled our quarters together and deposited $1.50 and then $1.75 to ensure the TU wasn’t treating the post-election paper as a collector’s edition. The kid was much more disappointed than I was (I still had a copy at home) because he had been driving around for more than an hour trying to score a paper. Not only was this the first election he had voted in, but his dream of an Obama win was beyond his belief. His mother had been skeptical, but he held hope and wanted to give her the paper as a gift. I told the kid I was not prepared to go to jail for vandalism, so he put the cover back on, and we tried one more time to deposit coins and pull open the door. With four hands pulling and jiggling the handle this time, the door opened. He deposited his $.75, and mine was already in the machine. The salon woman didn’t have $.75 for the third paper and wanted to be a good “role model” for the kid. I said we didn’t want to steal the third paper, so he returned to his car, dug under the seat, and came up with another $.75 while I held the door open. He then gave it to the woman from the salon as a gift. After thanking us, he jumped off the curb heading for his car with the hard-earned newspaper in his arms, yelling, “YES WE CAN.” I kid you not.

The 2016 Election Of Donald J. Trump

The 2016 presidential election began the seemingly never-ending political scourge of Donald Trump. I was beyond disappointed and amazed by the election of Trump as President of the United States. I heard what people were saying and was not surprised by what I heard. There was plenty of anger, shock, and awe. Include me, please, among the shocked and awed. And yes, I shed tears. I was despondent.

I don’t believe it was because she was a woman that Hillary Clinton lost the election. She won the popular vote, after all. I admire Hillary Clinton. She could stand on her own, having proven herself repeatedly, but after spending a life in the public eye, some shit will inevitably go down. She was able to rise above the fray both privately and publicly. People believed her to be a liar. She’s not a liar. The appeal of Trump to those who voted for him is still a mystery to me. Those referred to as “his base” were drawn to his cruelty, his racism, his misogyny, and his bullying style. He is and has always been a liar and a cheat. I hope someday he is arrested.

I watched Hillary Clinton try her best to win the Presidency. I watched her take the hits and marveled at all three debates. If put in her position, I’d like to know what I would say to Trump if given a chance. I know this is never going to happen. I will never receive an invitation to speak at the White House Correspondents Dinner to humiliate him as Obama did. Hillary Clinton will never be President, let alone the first woman president that she deserves to be. I listened to Hillary Clinton’s concession speech. She was more gracious than I could have ever been.

                                                             Hillary Rodham Clinton

It is 2023, and election fever has already begun. Trump is never going to go away. Looking back on why I included these two stories and wasted time writing about Trump is clear to me now. In his quest for a second term, eluding to being the President for life, Trump, having lost to Joseph Biden, never conceded his loss - after two impeachments, untold campaign finance violations, orchestrating a coup, lying and lying and lying more, Trump is going to run for President again. What followed his first win was a division in the country that I thought I would never see in my lifetime. My country lost so much, and the next election in November, 2024 will be a more significant turning point than the last one.

I am no political analyst, and in the scope of things, my knowledge is limited to what I watch on TV. The aftermath of Donald Trump triggered an onslaught of lies to the country in an unprecedented way. His loss of the Presidency and what followed will be a tale that movies will be made of, critics will write more books, and quite possibly, democracy will be replaced. I implore you, gentle reader, to get involved in the voting process. Vote as if your life depends on it because it does. Since the Republican party has a stronghold on our country now, the religious right is imposing on freedoms I have taken for granted my entire adult life. Religion does not belong in the government, the workplace, or the education system. Let people who want to believe, believe. But fight your hardest when other people’s religion imposes on you. It is awful when elected leaders impose their beliefs and affect the laws that govern us. Become a registered Democrat as soon as your age allows. Never miss the chance to vote. It matters because the only voice you have is your vote.