I look forward each Election Day morning to strolling to Stamford High School to vote with my wife, and walking out with our “I Voted Today” stickers and a sense of fulfilling our civic duty. Then we get pancakes.
This year we brought our 1-year-old son to introduce him to the voting booth. The removal of the antiques with curtains and metal levers created instant nostalgia a few years ago. No longer are there Rockwell-esque images of tiny legs visible at the bottom of the curtain. Instead, I parked him between us as we approached the “privacy station” that never offers privacy, but always triggers flashbacks of the SATs.
“Is it OK to bring him?” I asked a volunteer.
“As long as he doesn’t vote,” she cracked. “That’s not a coloring book.”
Judging from past elections, a lot of people might not be clear on that directive.
As you can see from the photo, he kept a close and wary eye on my wife as she filled out the charter questions. He voiced an opinion, perhaps about the Fire Department issue. Please let me know if you can translate it, because I just heard it as “AHHH . . . WUGGLE . . . EHH.”
Or maybe he just wanted his pancakes, which he was pleased to get at the Bedford Street diner. He’ll have to wait at least another 12 months for an “I Voted Today” souvenir. In the year of the Obamaromcmurp election, Stamford High School had already run out of stickers.