Healthy relationships: Election showed community’s commitment to democratic process

Over the past couple of months, I have been engaged in the practice of citizenship. While I know I am not alone in this, for this election, I knew I needed to step up and put some time in, not just send money or fling my thoughts out on social media.

So, for about an hour each weekend in September and October, I made calls on behalf of my candidate of choice. Not unexpectedly, I got a lot of hang-ups and many folks just never answered. But I was surprised that when I did connect with folks, many were eager to talk to me, to share their stories, and to tell me how they, too, were practicing citizenship, some of them for many years.

I spoke to a woman named Gloria who, when I asked her if she knew where her polling place was, informed me that up until last year, she had been a poll worker herself. She’d still be there, she shared, but her children told her it was time to step down. She was 93. I spoke with another woman in her 90s, a former college professor, who had fought for the rights of women and for whom voting was an almost sacred process. Some of those I spoke to were happy to tell me who they supported and some believed that keeping their vote private was the right thing to do.

I talked to folks who were voting by mail, some determined to go to the polls in person on Election Day, some who had questions, some who had made their plans long ago.

One older gentleman told me that he was walking to his polling place and he really hoped it didn’t rain.

And then there were those who shared why they believed this election was so important. Some just had very strong beliefs about one candidate or the other. Some told me they were voting for their children. One woman shared that her son had been laid off as a result of the pandemic and he and his wife had a new baby, so this election was critical to them.

To be sure, I was as frustrated as anyone by how long it took to announce the winner of this election. I think the need for immediate gratification, made worse by a 24-hour news cycle, is hard to manage. But I was, at the same time, moved by the dedication of all of those who participated in the process, from those dropping their ballots in the mail and drop boxes, to those standing in line on Election Day, to all those who volunteered to answer phones and sort and count ballots because that is what democracy requires of us.

Nobel Laureate Kofi Annan said, “No one is born a good citizen; no nation is born a democracy. Rather, both are processes that continue to evolve over a lifetime.” I was, I will admit, moved to tears more than once at the opportunity to observe and participate in the evolving of good citizenship and democracy, at the examples of those, like Gloria, who had dedicated their lifetimes to the work of citizenship and democracy. A healthy community demands that we be involved in its maintenance and nurturing. And although my part in this practice of citizenship was much smaller than others’, I’m glad I could contribute even a little bit.