From the booth: Our voting stories
The League of Women Voters celebrated its 103rd birthday on Valentine’s Day 2023. It also marks the 103rd anniversary of women’s right to vote.
Voting has been under attack in ways great and small for decades but the past few years have turned the heat up a few notches. To celebrate the anniversary of the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution and to also remind ourselves of how important voting is - not only on a practical level - but an emotional one and highly personal one was well, we asked members to tell us their stories.
We got a few, but we’re continuing to take contributions and will add them here as they are received. As you read these, think about your own story and take a few minutes to jot it down and send it to us!
Doris McLallen
It really is humbling and a privilege to help brand new citizens register to vote minutes after their citizenship ceremonies, to see the happiness and pride on their faces and to realize how hard many have worked… and how far they have traveled to come to this day. 🇺🇸
Susan Bell
I grew up in a family that felt that voting was both a hard-won right and an obligation. My parents voted in every election and discussed politics and history at home. I was encouraged to read and make my own decisions about issues, but also told that "If you don't vote, you can't complain about what happens because you didn't participate."
The opportunity to vote was something I looked forward to as much as I did to getting my driver's license - both major rites of passage. The first election I was able to participate in was the presidential election year of 1980, which ended up being a very eventful campaign. I was a college freshman. John B. Anderson ran a "campaign of ideas". He was a Republican who supported the ratification of the ERA, gay rights, abortion rights and civil rights. When he didn't win the primary, he created an independent party that had to fight to get federal campaign money, press coverage and debate invitations. As we know, he didn't win - Regan soundly beat Carter - but he created an educational and interesting race.
Deb Drucker
In 1968, the year I turned 18, American soldiers had been sent to fight in the Vietnam war for the past three years. A friend who was in the class ahead of me was drafted at age 19. That year, I voted for the first time for Hubert Humphrey, since he was the anti-war candidate. Humphrey did not get elected, and the war did not end for another seven years. But during that time, public opinion shifted dramatically until, by its end, the war had little to no support in this country. I think many young people voting for the first time may have a particular issue or concern that motivates them to cast their vote. The issue may not be resolved in that first election. But they are taking the first step towards bringing about the change they want.
Laura Haight
I was a poll watcher a few years ago. An African-American gentleman came in with his grandson assisting him. He was quite old and disabled, but dressed to the nines from his hat to his wing tips. He had a cane, but still had to lean on his grandson as he laboriously made his way to the table. He announced his name and his grandson produced his drivers' license. When they asked him to sign in, the gentleman struggled to pick up the pen. His grandson looked concerned. The gentlemen quietly asked if his grandson could help him sign his name. Of course, yes, the poll manager said. The grandson put the pen in his hand and held his hand gently but firmly over top of his grandfather's and guided him through signing. Then, as now, I found myself tearing up. My appreciation of voting had always been a practical one. Until this moment, I had never fully grasped at an emotional level, the essence - the personal sacrifice, the commitment – of what it really means – and should mean – to vote.