On the morning of my 18th birthday, I did two things right away: I drove to the post office to fill out my selective service card, and then I registered to vote.
More than three decades later, the details of the former are largely lost to the mists of time. The details of the latter, however, remain as vivid as the day it happened.
I filled out some paperwork. Checked a few boxes. And the town clerk in my little town had me raise my right hand and recite an oath whose wording is now lost to me.
The feeling, though, of my heart feeling like it was about to beat out of my chest, and the unalloyed wave of excitement that washed over me, is not.
In all the years since, I’ve never had to recite a similar oath when I’ve had to register to vote.
It might have been schmaltzy overkill on the part of a local official. But it served a purpose. It conveyed a sense of occasion.
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And it reinforced the notion that a young adult was now entering into a society where voting is both a right and a responsibility. And generations have fought and died to preserve it.
This Tuesday, primary day, as we cast our ballots in state and local races, we’re engaging in a ritual, a process, that makes us fundamentally who we are as a nation, and as a democracy.
My vote counts as much as yours. And your vote counts as much as your neighbor’s, and down the line. And we don’t even have to agree on the choice of candidate.
It’s probably better that we don’t. The untidiness of compromise, after all, almost always results in better public policy, and outcomes that benefit the many instead of the few.
Over the years, we’ve rightfully expanded the franchise. And we’ve made it easier than ever for people to register to vote.
But for all that, a casual glance at the headlines reminds us that the franchise isn’t something that we can take for granted.
Like everything else, it’s something that has to be nurtured and protected.
Over the last two decades, state Legislatures across the country still have sought to make voting more difficult by passing stricter voter ID laws, restricting registration, and by purging the voting rolls, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.
In 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court abetted such efforts when it weakened the Voting Rights Act, which particularly impacted Americans of color, low-income Americans, and younger and older voters, the Brennan Center further noted.
“This is the political environment we live in. It’s not getting better — it’s getting worse,” Minnesota state Sen. Bobby Joe Champion, the author of a law that increased anti-discrimination protections for voting, told the website Capital B in May.
So what to do? Like most stuff in life, just show up.
If you’re registered to vote, and haven’t already participated in early voting, head to your local school, community center, or wherever voting is held, and cast your ballot.
If you’re not registered to vote for the primary, consider registering to vote for the Nov. 5 general election. You can get all the information about that in MassLive’s voters’ guide.
And one more thing, if you’re a parent, and you’re heading out to vote this primary day, please bring your kids with you − if you hadn’t planned to already, and if there’s daylight in your schedule to do so.
In addition to being a right and responsibility, voting also is a habit. And if your kids see you doing it, it’s all the more likely that they’ll do it as well.
And maybe they’ll get that same feeling of occasion when they do.
Most of all, just have fun today. For all its seriousness, Election Day is also a pretty special day.
And maybe I’ll see you out there.
