The Importance of Voting

Yesterday, I worked in my polling place as Judge of Elections in my first general election. Our first voter arrived at 6:35 am and waited patiently while we finished opening the polls. By 7 am, we had a line out of the door. Voters came out in full force yesterday. My precinct has about 1400 registered voters. Over a thousand showed up. I listened to the veteran poll workers at my location talk about how they hadn't had a line like that morning in a very long time. They compared the turn out to 2016’s and said it was likely better. We worked hard all day and our community voted. It didn't always go smoothly, but we made it work. I watched parents introduce their children to the democratic process, new voters cast their votes for the first time as well as adults that hadn't participated before, show up to cast their vote and be heard. If you've ever considered volunteering to work at a polling location, I highly recommend. It is uplifting to watch democracy in action at its most basic level.

A few takeaways from my experience, our ancient voting machines in Montgomery county began to lag during activation due to such frequency use. I have three machines and each logged about 300 votes. I had to call voter services several times throughout the day, because that's what I was trained to do about basically any issue. You'd think that the county voter services might have mentioned during the whole hour training we received, that if a voter hasn't voted in two general elections, they no longer have an active registered voter status. Let me repeat that for the people in the back. IF YOU HAVEN'T VOTED IN THE PAST TWO GENERAL ELECTIONS IN PA, YOUR VOTER REGISTRATION STATUS IS NO LONGER ACTIVE. I don't know when this became the law or why, but it is abhorrent. I don't care what party you are, your right to vote is inalienable. Our state legislature is assaulting our right to vote or not by taking it away if you opt not to use it. So this day after the election, regardless of who won or lost, if you voted or not, I urge you to contact your new or re elected state Representative, your new or re elected state Senator and tell them to right this wrong. Then, re-register if your voter status has been purged. Then vote! Every election, every May and every November. Vote for every position no matter how small. Up and down the ballot. Use the motivation that got you to the polls yesterday and the anger you felt when your vote was denied and tell Pennsylvania, never again will your voice be silenced. Get involved. Stay involved. Democracy is a marathon not a sprint. We must hold our elected officials accountable at every turn. I'll be at the polls again in May. Will you?