Letters to the Editor: Think voting is easy? Talk to students and service workers.
The first time I voted was when I was in my fifth-grade classroom. At that time, my teacher put two boxes on our desks. The first box contained a ballot and the second had a little flag. On election days, she would tell us to put our ballots beside the flag and then open our flag and put it on top of the ballot. We were told to vote for “the person we liked best” and then to vote a straight vertical line down. After the election, I stood where I could see the two boxes and found the flag on top of the ballot. That was my first vote.
The second time I voted was in my sophomore-year classroom in high school. This time, the teacher put another box on our desks. The second box had a pencil and ruler. We were told to put the pencil beneath the ruler and to put the pencil at the top of the line. I put the ruler below the pencil and then moved the ruler over the pencil. I stood on the pencil and then sat upon the ruler. That election was my second vote.
My third and fourth votes occurred when I was a junior in college. I sat at the top of my dorm room floor and put the pen next to the book. On my way down the stairs (to go to a bathroom), I passed the vote pen and found the pencil on the bottom of the stairs. That was my third and fourth votes.
For my fifth vote, I was driving to work the morning of the election. I was driving on the highway and the radio was tuned to a sports show. A sports announcer was talking about a player I had seen on television. At that instant, I heard the word “VOTE.” I put the car in reverse, looked in the rear-view mirror and saw the word “VOTE” written above the radio. I turned the radio knob to listen to the sports show and heard the announcer say “the president of the United States, Ronald Reagan.” That was my fifth vote.
Since then I have
