CHAPTER 1

 

November 3, 2012 my brother Gregg, my brother Shomari and I got up and went downtown with my mom. She said she was going to vote.
At first, my brother Shomari said he didn’t want to go and I just wanted to go back to sleep and STAY sleep because it was Saturday. After all, my brothers and I thought November 6th was SUPER TUESDAY, ELECTION DAY, the day to vote for president.
When my mom woke us up, she made us hurry and get ready. After getting ready, we rushed to the car but my brother Gregg said he couldn’t find his voter registration card. Mom wasn’t really happy and yelled for him to check the coffee table. I think she forgot that she gave it to me to give to him after I got ready. So, we yelled for Gregg to come on because we had it, and he came running.

 

CHAPTER 2

On our way downtown, my mom explained to us that November 6th is actual Election Day, and that we were right. However, the polls were opened up to voters on Friday November 2nd so people could vote early if they wanted to. She said this helps the election committee, the people who are helping you vote, stay organized and helps to keep the lines from getting too long on the day of the election. Also, she said by not waiting until the last minute makes it easier to keep things in order.
My mother explained to us that there are so many reasons why people would be interested in voting early. In fact, she said she went early because she wanted to make it a family outing. Therefore, going to vote on Saturday allowed her to make casting her vote a family experience, without making my brother Shomari and I from miss any school on Tuesday.

 

CHAPTER 3

When we got downtown, we went to the county courthouse building. We saw signs outside of the front door that said ‘VOTE HERE’ in red white and blue, the same colors of the American Flag, with arrows pointing to the front door.
There weren’t many cars outside when we parked, but when we got inside there were lots of people inside, and everywhere I looked there were little booths set up. Some of these booths were set up for a person to sit down and vote, and the other booths were set up for people to stand up while voting.  These little booths looked like they were made out of cardboard.
I wanted to start asking questions but my mom seemed really focused with a serious look on her face…, so, I just walked and looked. There were no other children there.

 

CHAPTER 4

We came to a door that said ELECTION BOARD. The door was opened and there was no one in line ahead of us, but there were lots of green papers lined up across the counter.
A lady walked up and handed my mom one of the green sheets and explained to her that when she filled out the paper to bring it back to the counter with her i.d. and she would find my mom in the computer. Another lady asked Shomari if he was voting, but he said no, then she asked Gregg. He was voting too, so she gave Gregg a green sheet also and gave him the same instructions that the other lady had given my mom.
Mom filled hers out with her name address and phone number, then gave it to a lady name Debbie, along with her i.d.
Ms. Debbie took my mothers’ green form and drivers’ license to the computer but said she was having a hard time finding my mom. This did NOT make my mom happy at all. BUT they worked together with a couple of more workers to locate my mom in the system. Now FINALLY, they gave her a ballot with a little sticker label on the ballot that had her name on it.
We then moved over to a table where two older ladies were sitting, one was our neighbor Ms. Billie. My mom handed her ballot to Ms. Billie, who yelled out ‘She’s a 2’ after looking over my moms’ ballot. Then Ms. Billie gave my mom a clipboard and had her to sign in. After my mom signed in, Ms. Billie gave us little oval stickers that had an American Flag on them and read I VOTED!

 

CHAPTER 5

I followed mom out of the door. She took her ballot to a booth where you stand up and my brother Gregg was at a booth where you sit. It’s funny because even though he was in line behind mom, because he had his voter registration card and she didn’t, he beat mom getting through the line. Ms. Debbie said it’s because you vote with an i.d. number, and this number is found on the voter registration card and not on your i.d.
Once we got to the booth, mom showed me what the ballot looked like and began explaining to me in a very soft voice, sometimes even a whisper, how to vote. She even let me put a check mark in some of her boxes.
The ballot looked a lot like a reading test to me.

 

CHAPTER 6

 

The very first question was for President. You had to choose whether you wanted a democratic or republican president.
My mom started showing me names that I remembered from the signs I’d seen around town, like Obama, Biden, Romney and Ryan. I even saw words that I recognized from signs AND listening to the news and commercials too. Words like state representatives, Supreme Court and other words. Then Shomari came over to our booth from Gregg’s booth to ask mom about a symbol.
He said “Mom, I thought the democratic symbol was a donkey and the republican symbol was an elephant?”
Mom said “Yes.”
Then Shomari pointed out that the symbols on our Oklahoma ballots were an eagle for republican and what looked like a rooster for democrats. Mom said she hadn’t even noticed and went on to explain how important it is to pay attention, to be studious and read to keep up in life because things are always changing. Shomari just listened and didn’t say anything.

 

CHAPTER 7

 

My mom turned her ballot over once we finished with the first side where we voted for the President, state representatives and judges. The first page was actually kind of easy but the back page mom said required more reading. Even though to me, the back looked easy because all of the answers were either yes or no, either for the proposal or not for the proposal.
Mom explained that you have to understand what you are voting for because you can vote for something that makes life harder for you when you don’t read with an understanding. She also said, sometimes, making mistakes when you vote can even make things harder for your children and grandchildren. Then she explained again how important it is to use the internet, newspapers and televisions to keep up with the news because the President, the state representatives and judges are always in the news.

 

CHAPTER 8

 

Shomari went back to Greggs’ booth while mom was reading the first question the back. She read it quietly and as I began to speak she said ‘shhhh!’ really fast. Mom said “You’re supposed to be quiet while people are voting.” Then mom started reading again, but in a fast whisper instead of quietly. She sounded a little frustrated. Then she said “This is confusing…” as Shomari walked back up to our booth.
“Read this.” Mom said as she handed Shomari her ballot.
Shomari started reading the question on moms ballot and it took him a long time, like he was reading it over and over…, like 3 or 4 times or something. Mom asked “Confusing?”, because even he looked kind of mad.
“Yes.” Shomari said.
Mom said “This is why you register to vote early and request a ‘sample ballot’, so you are not rushed into making a bad decision because you don’t know the right answer or because you just don’t understand the question because of the way it is written”.

 

CHAPTER 9

Mom said the ladies that were working for the election board emailed her a sample ballot on October 22nd. She said a sample ballot is just like getting to look at a test before you take it so you can find all of the right answers and study them before taking the test, sort of like a study guide to help you vote quick and easy.
Shomari and I listened to mom as she taught us how to vote. It was actually interesting. She said that she thought taking us to vote with her and sharing the voting experience with us could only be a good example for us.
There were not a whole lot of questions that we had to ask because mom was answering them before we had a chance to think about them. It all looked easy and mom made it sound easy too, even though the look on her face was real serious the whole time.

 

CHAPTER 10

Suprisingly, even though Shomari wasn’t old enough to vote, he was able to help as well. He took the time to explain to mom and me that it’s real important for us not to just read the ballot but to also read the directions.
Shomari showed us directions in the booth that showed pictures of check marks and x’s were the incorrect way to vote and that shading in the box was the right way. Mom said she never saw those directions there. So we had to go all of the way back to the beginning and shade in the boxes because we’d used check marks.

 

CHAPTER 11

Upon finishing, mom picked up her ballot and walked over to an electronic machine that looked like a giant ticket eater from the pizza fun centers. There was no one standing there to help us but Shomari said he knew what to do, so mom gave him her ballot. 
Once you are finished with your ballot, I learned that you have to feed it into a voting machine in order to actually vote. Once we lay the ballot in the slot on the machine, the voting machine automatically pulled it in, then the Oklahoma flag showed up on the screen to assure us our vote was counted.

 

CHAPTER 12

Today was awesome. Mom said voting is something that all Americans who can, SHOULD do. She said it’s not just your right but it’s your duty. Even though it’s a quiet, private process, voting is a way for you to be heard loud and clear. Mom said when you shade in those boxes and turn in your ballot you are saying what you want as loud as you can.
I am so glad my mom included us in the voting process, and even though I checked the president I wanted on my moms ballot and it didn’t really count as my vote, when the state seal popped up on the screen of the voting machine and said ok, I was proud because I felt like I VOTED!!!

 

Impressum

Texte: JE'ROBERTSON-WEST
Bildmaterialien: JE'ROBERTSON-WEST
Tag der Veröffentlichung: 06.11.2012

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