With an early birthday in January, I turned 18 just in time for Super Tuesday. Though the primaries are looked down upon compared to the general election, they are important in deciding who gets to proceed to the general election.
I will admit that it’s obvious who the candidates will be. However, with the struggles in American history to secure the right to vote and voter suppression in our country, I still felt the responsibility to vote. And besides, it’s going to start a good habit early on.
Leading up to the election, it’s important to check if you are registered to vote. No one can just show up to the polling place. It also varies from state to state, and some states may be stringent while others may be lax. Many sites can help you figure out this information and even check if you are registered.
In Massachusetts, we are fortunate enough to have laws that make voting easy. Worcester has many polling locations, and mine was within walking distance. However, you do have to make sure you go to the right location as the city is divided into precincts. These precincts have an assigned voting location, and you cannot go to any other.
When I arrived at my precinct, I actually started getting nervous because of how high stakes this felt. But I still was able to go inside the polling place. I gave my full name and address, and I was not ID’ed for some reason. I read online that if it’s your first time, you may be asked for ID. I had even brought my passport just in case. Everything just carried on. I was asked what party ballot I wanted, and interestingly enough, the ballot colors represent the old colors of the parties. In other words, the Republican Party was blue and the Democratic Party was red. It confused me, but it luckily only led to a moment of laughter between me and the poll workers.
There were stations that gave you some privacy while you bubbled in who you wished to vote for. Once you were done, you walked up to this high-tech computer where it took in your ballot and stored it securely. I did just that, and a worker said, “You voted!”
That was it?
It was honestly anticlimactic how easy it was. As mentioned, I felt the pressure of the struggles in history to get this very right I just exercised. Additionally, there are stories all over the country of voter suppression where states actively make it harder to vote. Sometimes there are long lines where you can expect to be there for hours. I was only there for 5 minutes.
In Worcester, voting is easy. If we want it to stay the way it is, we need to get out there and vote especially for those for whom it is hard to do.
