Greetings all. My efforts to raise voter turnout all across the southeastern region have been dynamic, creative, and borderline exhaustive. I’ve done my share of speaking at engagements and canvasing the general public as they go about their day to day lives. Well, Tuesday was when the rubber met the road: Election Day. I guess election day is a mild overstatement. It was partisan runoff election day, so voting officials and experienced organizers alike accepted the inevitability of a less than impressive voter turnout. I, on the other, was optimistic, as I generally am about most of my organizing efforts. My “ace in the hole” was the fact that I had neglected to vote during the early voting period despite visiting the Board of Elections multiples times during that period. Saturday I missed my chance to vote because a Cumberland County Black Leadership Caucus event; afterwards I added “VOTE” in the crowded weekly planner because I couldn’t allow myself to become a hypocrite because of my organizing schedule.
Now the fun part, Tuesday around mid day I head off to my local polling site. It’s an elementary school where I’ve voted several times before, but this is the first time I’ve voted there while school is out, so I’m surprised to see that the location of the polling machines has changed. I navigate to the new room and it immediately reminds me of my elementary school days playing “Heads up Seven up”. . . The two polling workers have having a mild conversation while the two “judges” are heads down on the desk. Needless to say they were happy to see me, an actual voter. I proudly gave my name and then even more proudly observed that I was not even asked for my ID. In May I was asked for my ID and had to do some election day voter education about a certain veto that had been upheld. But this polite patriot was well trained (despite a lack of federal funding) and proceeded to enter my name into the computer. Oh, the suspense of one-fingered key entry! It reminded me of texting before QWERTY keyboards. Now for the bad news. . . because I did not declare a party in May when I voted, thus not participating in the partisan election, I don’t have a ballot for the run off election. Oh, the irony. In an election with a low turnout, I want to vote but literally can’t. I Immediately wonder how many new or returning voters who I’ve helped register or attempted to get excited about voting have encountered this procedural intricacy? Knowing that an oversight as innocent as this can easily counteract some of our efforts to get out the vote, I know I have to use these final few weeks of Democracy Summer to build momentum for August when voter education and empowerment efforts will be critical to combat the flow of corporate-money-fueled propaganda by way of text, TV, magazine, AND internet. Though this awesome apprenticeship/internship is coming to an end, my work is far from done.
Clarence Franklin
Fayetteville Team
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