Primary Election-June 2025
I'm reading the book, The Year of Living Biblically right now. It's made me laugh out loud multiple times, and also given me much to consider. This recent passage has me thinking about the quest for honesty and what does that mean in our relationships with other people.
"You guys seem nice, but I don't really want new friends right now."
This is a long introduction to tell you about my 17 hour day on Tuesday spent working the Democratic Primary election in our community. I've worked the polls multiple times now, both in Nashville and in Rochester, but this was my first time in this location. We were housed on the first floor of a high-rise apartment building, in the TV room.
In the spirit of "Living Biblically," I'm going to try to be respectful, yet honest in this post.
Spending 17 hours with a randomly assorted mix of people, 1/2 Democrats, 1/2 Republicans, is a mixed bag. I love getting to know about new people, but people who only talk about themselves are exhausting. I have also gotten to the stage where I do not feel the need to be polite. Respectful, kind, yes; but that applies to myself as well. I refused to get trapped by one of my co-workers who literally talked for hours straight. A perfectly nice person, but incapable of shutting up. So much so that multiple co-workers came to find me in my safe zone of distance to tell me they couldn't be close to him anymore; and then I had to also give them the signal that they could sit near me, but I wasn't interested in hearing them talk about themselves for hours either.
I got a lot of cards and blog posts written, and many hours of books read because we had 50 voters over the course of the 15 hours that the polls were open. Not a lot of excitement unless you count the screaming match two men had outside on the patio of the apartment building. That brought up some childhood trauma.
The other two interactions of interest were the man who walked in the door, cursing and yelling about elections being rigged, a vote not counting because it didn't matter and they were all in it together. "F-this," and "F-that." Politicians suck and none of this matters.
I looked up at him, "Would you like to vote?"
"Yes!"
The second was the mom and daughter who came in together. We attempted to check them in, but the mom was a registered Republican, so she couldn't vote in this Democratic Primary. By the time this was all explained to her, the daughter, a registered Democrat, was in the privacy booth, voting.
"Jill! (Not her name.)" yelled the mom. "What are you doing?! You can't vote. You are a Republican."
Silence from behind the privacy curtain.
We're all watching in fascinated horror as the scene plays out.
"JILL! What are you doing? You are a Republican!"
"Mom! I'm a Democrat!"
"We'll see about that," says Mom, as she stomps out.
That's going to be an interesting evening at their house.
As always, glad to do my civic duty by supporting people's right to vote. Fascinated and annoyed by my fellow humans.
That's living Biblically.
