One election day, when I was in elementary school, our teachers took us to the lobby to explain the voting process to us. We got to see the machine, which was an old fashioned machine with little levers for the candidates and a big red pull lever that opened and closed the curtain and committed your vote. One voter even offered to let us watch her vote, and our teacher sternly refused. “Voting is a private act, and these children should understand that!”
I was very jealous. At that time, nobody in our family could vote.
My parents still intended to move back to India and so they retained their Indian citizenship both out of patriotism and pragmatism, since they were considering buying a place before they actually resettled, and you could only own property then if you were a citizen. My sister and I, both born in the USA, were too young.
When I was around 11, my father became a citizen so that he could sponsor his parents to come and live with us. There was no fanfare about this, I don’t remember when he took the oath, the family didn’t go down and watch him. But voting, now that was special. I’m pretty sure I went down with him to the high school down the block, stood on line for an hour, and went into the voting booth with him. That first act of voting was wrapped up with family.
Then my grandfather became a citizen, so he could sponsor my aunt to come to America. I helped him study for the test, sitting with him on his bed and drilling the material as he apologized for the fact that he couldn’t learn it perfectly the first time. Grandpa had always had a mind like a steel trap and although we couldn’t have known it then, his struggles were actually the first symptoms of the Alzheimers that would become obvious in coming years.
I went into the polls with him, even though I was a teenager and already looked like I was in my 20s. When we got inside, Grandpa let me vote for him. I said, don’t you want to vote? He had such strong political opinions, I didn’t understand. He said, no, I trust you. I turned the knobs, asking him if he agreed, and then pulled the lever. This was the first vote I ever cast, at age 16. In retrospect, that vote was tinged with sadness.
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p> My first vote was an absentee ballot I cast from college. I got to vote in a Presidential race, but still, it was anticlimatic to fill out a dinky paper ballot after having been embraced by the mammoth metal hulk that was the NYC voting machine. Still, that vote was about becoming an adult and becoming an American, more than anything else I have ever done.
My mother became an American citizen after I became 18. My father had arrived in the US during the Vietnam war, and they had agreed that one of them would retain their Indian citizenship in case I needed to escape a draft! I always thought this was funny. I told my father that I would go to Canada like all the other Americans did, but he insisted that I should have that option. By that point, we realized we were staying in America. Again, we didn’t make a big deal out of the swearing in, but Ma’s first election was special.
By the time my sister turned 18, voting was old hat. We had been Americans for some time. (The only one who never became a citizen was grandma, who never learned to speak or read English. This year she could have become a citizen anyway, but she was too frail, and then she passed away this summer.)
Now we (those of us who are still alive) all vote in almost every single election. I think I’ve only missed one regular election, when I was out of the country and there were no important political races. I know I’ve missed a couple of primaries. Voting is my opportunity, each year, to re-enact my Americanness. Swearing allegiance reminds me of baseball, not patriotism, but voting … voting reminds me of how much I truly love this country.
Beautiful. Thanks for that story! I voted today in Chicago and was so moved, I was crying a little when I slid my optically-scanned ballot into the counter…the kindly old election worker patted me on the back and said, “don’t worry honey – it’s been happenin’ all morning. Just enjoy it!” One of the most powerful effects of this election has to be that so many more people finally understand just how powerful voting is, and what a fierce gift it is. All the Gods Bless America!
Thanks for sharing your story, ennis. Makes me tear up. There is something really special about walking out of a voting booth after pulling that lever. I always walk with an extra skip in my step, my shoulders straight, a big smile on my face. And, I always feel lucky. An aside, this morning, my husband (who is not yet a US citizen) put on dark blue pants, a blue shirt, a blue tie, and a blue sweater and walked me to the voting site. He works in finance, in an environment where many folks are huge Republicans, McCain fans because of their tax philosophies. “If anyone had any doubt that I’m a Democrat, they’ll know today,” he said. I felt so proud of him and can’t wait for the next presidential election when we can both go vote together.
Very moving essay, thank you
Thank you for the inspiring story. I have always felt the power of voting whenever I’ve actually walked into the room, the tiredness of the polling staffers but their commitment to making sure everything is correctly handled for each person. It’s good to have options and freedom.
ACORN!
Thank you for sharing this, the story of your parents hits close to home. I actually thought a lot about applying for permanent residence but decided against it as the time investment was not worth the wait for me. If all goes per plan I will be moving back this time next year.
didn’t mean to sound flip, what I mean about time investment not worth the wait is that there are more important reasons to move back
Moving story Ennis
amazing story!
I just became a US Citizen a mere week ago, but today will be my mothers first time voting in ANY election, she moved from India to Canada when she was 20 and had never voted in an Indian election, and then she never attained Canadian citizen status, we moved to the United States and my parents became citizens last March. At the age of 45, she finally has the right to vote!
She probably had the right to vote in India but never exercised it. (assuming she moved to Canada in the late 80s where they reduced the voting age from 21 to 18 in India.) maybe not, if she is 45 now, she’d have moved to Canada in 1983. don’t know if India reduced the age of voting by then.
Anyways, it’s a good feeling to vote and actually make a difference. I felt the same when I voted the first time in India and threw out someone I din’t like.
I don’t know why people even bother to vote when the Electoral College is the entity that decides the presidency.
damn them preppy colijg brats. may their dal have rocks.
was your vote like a higher class of stock or something? a 5K for 1 deal? I’ve found, and this may just be me, that my one vote is fairly insignificant.
C’mon, man. Does that mean you never contribute to any cause or charity because you think your one contribution is fairly insignificant? Is that really your reason for not voting, Nayagan?
13 · Nayagan said
You must be a sociopath 🙂 The current fashionable theory for why people vote is that you receive a high utility in expressing support for people who think like you.
P.S: I am only kidding. Although Tyler Cowen seems to believe that those who don’t vote are kidding themselves.
Moved to Oregon recently, they take the fun out of voting. We all vote my mail and I sent my ballot in, a couple of weeks ago.. bleh its such a cold way to vote…
But the fine Oregonian wines must offer some comfort, sfgirl, or do you not get a free glass of wine with your “I voted” sticker?
thank you for sharing this story…it was quite moving!
That’s very moving testimony, Ennis. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for sharing.
Ennis, I’m late to the party as usual. Thank you for sharing your memories. I had tears by the time I read about your grandma and then shouted “Hooray” when I read your last line.
was your vote like a higher class of stock or something? a 5K for 1 deal? I’ve found, and this may just be me, that my one vote is fairly insignificant.
Well, if every one thinks his vote is insignificant and stay home, the votes of those who go out and vote becomes significant.
FYI: If you were forced to stand in the road (stuck) for a couple of hours in Chennai with no movement in traffic on either directions just for Jayalalitha’s convoy to pass, you’d feel very happy in throwing her out by using your vote. 🙂
17 bess said
haha! We don’t get the “I voted” sticker. This is the land of “cannot pump your own gas, drive-thru Baskin Robbins (WTF!) and no sticker for you missy!” But don’t let my rant about these quirks overshadow my love for Portland 🙂
I love it when my web sites collide. Your entry has made it in Salon.com, ennis.
http://www.salon.com/tech/htww/2008/11/04/the_world_and_obama/index.html
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/11/04/a_poem_for_election_day/
ELECTION DAY, NOVEMBER, 1884 If I should need to name, O Western World, your powerfulest scene and show,
‘Twould not be you, Niagara – nor you, ye limitless prairies – nor your huge rifts of canyons, Colorado,
Nor you, Yosemite – nor Yellowstone, with all its spasmic geyserloops ascending to the skies, appearing and disappearing,
Nor Oregon’s white cones – nor Huron’s belt of mighty lakes – nor Mississippi’s stream:
This seething hemisphere’s humanity, as now, I’d name – the still small voice vibrating -America’s choosing day,
(The heart of it not in the chosen – the act itself the main, the quadrennial choosing,)
The stretch of North and South arous’d – sea-board and inland – Texas to Maine – the Prairie States – Vermont, Virginia, California,
The final ballot-shower from East to West – the paradox and conflict,
The countless snow-flakes falling – (a swordless conflict,
Yet more than all Rome’s wars of old, or modern Napoleon’s): the peaceful choice of all,
Or good or ill humanity – welcoming the darker odds, the dross:
These stormy gusts and winds waft precious ships,
Swell’d Washington’s, Jefferson’s, Lincoln’s sails.
Voted for the first time ever in my life today. Have been apolitical my whole life… until this election. There was just too much at stake this time around, on so many fronts. The one biggest issue that compelled me was the Iraq War. Felt quite proud to vote although I have no delusions that my vote (in NJ of all places) will have any impact on the outcome.
that’s not the point -sigh- but good you woted.
I have no delusions that my vote (in NJ of all places) will have any impact on the outcome.
Popular votes will give Obama/McCain cover in claiming mandate.
I became an American citizen in August of 2006. I cast my first vote 2 months ago by absentee ballot for Barack Obama. It is hard to describe what I am feeling today. I felt it before when I graduated from college and after I’ve completed major projects that went over splendidly. It is a feeling of pride. But this time I am not proud of myself or anyone I know personally. I am just generally more proud of my country. I am proud of what the American people were able to do by getting out there and getting engaged and volunteering their time and their money for a greater cause.
We are about to close a very dark time in our nation’s history. For 8 years (arguably longer) we have tolerated governance that was, at best, incompetent, and at worst destructive to the ideas upon which this nation was founded. It doesn’t matter where you vote. This election is a repudiation of the divisive and destructive politics of yesterday. Each and every vote is just one more pebble in the avalanche that buries it. This is a day when all of America stands up together and says “ENOUGH!”
I became a citizen in June, right before I turned 18. I’d fought tooth and nail with my mom to avoid getting my citizenship because I wasn’t comfortable giving up my Indian citizenship. Eventually, all her emotional blackmailing broke me down. I’ve been a political junkie since I was 13, but I didn’t think I could ever completely embrace America as “my country”. I’d grown up in too many places to ever feel that I could be of just one place. I never felt that India made that demand of me to swear my allegiance to her alone, but the US did. I’m still sad that I won’t get dual citizenship (OCI doesn’t count), but I finally think that there’s a candidate who somewhat understands global citizenship. Someone who gets that you can belong to many different places and none at the same time. I’ll always think of myself as a citizen of the world, but this election season, America has really made me fall in love with it.
That was really nice, Ennis. I’m jealous that you got to vote before 18. My first time was a paper absentee ballot, too, for the Democratic Primaries in 2000.
14 · bess said
I will ponder this. You know the spot.
Good Chum,
Remember those chummery days? When chums could go out for an idle chat without feeling holier than a true chum should relative to his fellow chums? Anyhow, Tyler suggested that both self-conscious voters and non-voters were drawing emotionally from their respective inferiority complexes, which seems to explain my feeling put-upon by rah-rah voters who cannot seem to grasp the (1 voter/registered voters = youareonefreakingvoter) formula.
15 · Rahul said
A responsible sociopath is no terrible thing.
That’s EXACTLY how I feel. Do you think India will ever offer full dual citizenship? I hope that if enough people want it they will someday.
My mother was the first to become a US citizen, so that she could sponsor my uncles to come to this country. She cried when she gave up Indian citizenship, and I understand why. There’s something about giving up a part of your identity that’s so sad. Still, she always voted, since she was the only person in our family who could. Every election day, she would walk with my sister and I to the park to vote (it as at the community center), and she showed us how to use the machine. We never discussed politics as a family, and it is my father who’s the news junky, but somehow I have the same values as she does (although it took some nagging to get her to believe that she’s really Libertarian instead of Republican).
Sadly, for this historic occasion, my mother couldn’t vote. She had to go back to India quickly to take care of her mother (same day that Obama stopped campaigning, ironically). However, my Dad finally became a US citizen and will vote.
I’m waiting for my sister to return from work so that we can all go voting as a family, then get the vote swag 🙂
Why the emotional attachment to being a citizen of India? Although I have cultural, ethnic, and familial links to the land of “India”, I have no political or civic attachments to it. Even for the DBDs out there, once you settle here, why would the “administrative” or governmental aspects of being an Indian citizen (as opposed to the emotional and cultural links) be of sentimental value? I would like to pursue the PIO (person of Indian origin) option some day when I have time, purely because it may be of benefit one day, but whatever my emotional attachments to the people and culture of India, I have no sentimental feelings towards the government of India (of which citizenship is a part).
You Americans are crazy. First you elect a nutcase like Bush. Then you reelect him. And you believe him when he said Iraq us “nuculur” and went off and killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. Damn right that you should make up for it by voting Obama. Watching the US coverage,it seems you are no different than India. We have caste,religion, and regionalism.You have terrorism, evangelicals and nutcases. But we still elect better leaders-Manmohan , Laloo and Sonia are better than Bush, Cheney and Wolfowitz anytime. At least they don’t go around and beating up other people
To amitabh- Hum hindustani apne desh aur apni maa ko nahin chodte. Bollywood movie dialogue
P Selvan – I hear you loud and clear. That was my first time too. 2004 was the second time. Now I live in a country where voting is compulsory at federal state and council elections – compulsory voting has its advantages
SM Interns please close out all threads on elections –
OBAMA wins presidential elections.. period
Yes yes indeed Obama it. I am a happy man today.
As I said before, I was born in India, I grew up there and Doha and Chicago. If you don’t understand why someone loves the country they were born in and shaped such a large part of their conscience and at the same time love the country they are a part of now, then you obviously are one of those people who don’t understand what its like to be a third culture kid and belong to many different places. Tonight, I can’t stop crying at the strength and sense of camaradarie of this country, but I’ll never stop loving India. And if you can’t understand that, then I’m sorry. But this thread is about the American election and today is a good day.
OBAMA! OBAMA! OBAMA! WOOOOOO!
I’m so charged right now! That speech gave me chills!
I never thought I’d see this in my lifetime. I’m so glad I did!
You done good, America. You done good.
Voting has always been a big deal to me. I just don’t understand my friends who say that they don’t care enough to vote. I think I missed one primary election since I became a citizen. I voted absentee ballot in 2004, but today, I took both my children to the polling station. They put our ballots in the box…and got their I Voted stickers. The area I live in is pretty low-key, so it was pretty anti-climatic, but still, I made sure that they both knew who their parents voted for. As my son says, “Marack O-mama!”
Ennis – BEAUTIFUL story. Would that we all took voting so seriously.
As a Chicagoan, a Desi, and a Diva – I am so goddamn proud of my country that Obama is our President-Elect. We’re on the way.
Ennis–I loved your story which I read yesterday. And now this great election news. Maybe I can start thinking of returning to America. The last eight years were truly terrible.
Nice story. It is stories like these that have messed up the lives of recent immigrants(DBDs). Chain migration at its finest. Don’t let Lou Dobbs read this story. His head might explode.
LOL @44
My kids if say “yes we can OBAMA” (They are 2 and 3, it’s cute, trust me).
Didn’t HMF say he’d eat his socks and stop crying about racism all the time if Obama won? Where has HMF slunk off to in this historic moment? HMF, EAT YOUR HEART OUT!
I voted yesterday in Chicago and took my 2 children aged 8 and 4 with me. I was tearing up and I think my kids were a bit surprised that this experience was so emotional for me. I kept telling them that this is a privelege and an honor to not only vote, but to vote for someone that you truly believe will make their lives better. I wore my “I voted” sticker with pride as did my kids. I hope that this experience will always stay with them and that they will always cherish this right to vote and understand the seriousness and significance of their own votes in the future.