Democracy in Action; or: An Alternative to Electronic Voting

TinyE voted with me this morning. She was really great as we waited in line, and she was excited to see that Mrs. Duf had already been there and already voted.

When we finally got to the part where I marked my votes, I explained to her that we were picking people to run our government. We live in St. Paul, St. Paul is a city in the State of Minnesota, and Minnesota is a State in the country of the United States of America. We are picking people to manage things for the city, for the state and for the whole country.

To say the least, she was nonplussed.

I was filling in circles, just like the old ACT and SAT days when she asked me “are there any girls listed on there?”

I was pleased to say that yes, there were.

I told her that I just voted for an Amy, a Betty and a Mike running with a Judi. I told her that I voted for an Ellen and for an Alice.

“The Alice who came to my birthday party?”

“No, a different Alice.”

As we were leaving, she said “that was not what I expected.”

“Really, honey, why not?” I asked.

“Well,” she said, “I thought we’d all sit in a circle, and when they asked who we wanted, then we would raise our hands!”