Voting a proud tradition

After voting at Reed Intermediate School in Newtown, Patricia Krasnickas said she takes seriously the Constitutional right to vote for one’s leaders, be it national, state or local.

A senior who cast her first vote back when the election age was 21, Krasnickas said she doesn’t miss an election because participating in the citizen selection of leaders makes her “proud to be an American.”

“I believe every parent should instill in their children how important their vote is. It matters,” Krasnickas said.

Her friend, June Holmes, agrees. But she said she believes it is high time the nation do away with the Electoral College.

The Founding Fathers created the electoral college to assure fair representation for its citizens, and at the time it made sense, Holmes said. With today’s techology, the electoral college is old-fashioned and needs to be scrapped; one’s individual vote should be cast and tallied. No middleman, she said.

“No matter what our challenges are, there is no better place to live than America,” Krasnickas said.

“And the turnout is great.”

Nanci Hutson