More Scary Than Halloween

I’ve worked as a poll clerk in Fulton County for several years now, watching the election process at the grassroots level in Johns Creek.  I’ve encountered a lot of good people – usually the same ones every election.

Traditionally, each time those of us at Johns Creek Precinct 17 open the polls on Election Day we try to guess how many voters will turn out.  It’s just a thing we do – like office workers guessing the gender, weight and birth date of an expectant co-worker’s soon-to-be-born baby. 

I’m very happy to say that, generally speaking, the voters in Johns Creek tend to turn out in higher numbers compared to the average precinct.  I’m sad to say that, as is the case everywhere, it’s still far less than half of the registered voters found on the roster. 

It’s a numerical and, I must say, an immoral standard that I don’t understand. 

Voting is a basic right – but it isn’t without cost.  Millions of Americans throughout our history have stood against all odds for this right.  Many even died so that the rest of us could vote freely and without fear. 

The idea of self government  – a radical one at the time – was first declared as a basic right of mankind by a group of people who believed so much in it that they were willing to place their lives, their fortunes and their “sacred honor” on  the line. 

Our Founding Fathers put their names on a document and sent it to the monarch of the most powerful country on earth, declaring their unbridled anger with the government and the king as well as their decision to separate from their rulers at once.

Have you ever actually read the Declaration of Independence? I ask because when people are honest about it they often reveal that they haven’t.

In school, we all learned about the signing of the Declaration. However, many people have never taken the time to really read one of the most controversial, revolutionary and, yet, beloved documents ever written.  If you have not, I would strongly urge that you do. 

As a writer, I have always been impressed with the passion that burned the very words onto the parchment and ignited a king’s rage.  It is one of the most poetically written works of “and let us tell you one more damned thing” that has ever been penned.  It amazes me that a group of politicians managed to hammer it out.

The point is, you really should read the Declaration of Independence; feel the anger, understand the frustration and know the courage embodied in a document that changed the world.  Then, go vote on Nov. 8.  How you vote is your business – that’s the whole idea.  The important thing is voting.  And take your kids with you, if you can.  They need to see their parents participating in a self-governing society.

And when you do come by Johns Creek Precinct 17 to vote, I’ll personally give you and your little one a lapel sticker that tells the world that you voted.

If you don’t vote, then don’t complain about the outcome or argue that you were just too busy to vote. I’m thinking that people like Jefferson, Adams, Washington, the slaves, members of the women’s suffrage movement and millions of others, including any soldier who has ever fought for your right to vote, wouldn’t have the time or patience to hear your excuse.