The Daily Star - Online Edition

My daughter Abby learned the catchy tune in music class, and it had been playing over and over in my head since I’d seen her second-grade class perform it at a school assembly a few weeks before.

Though I’d never considered not voting, I found myself questioning the value of it. After all, the analysts seemed certain that New York would vote blue as usual. What difference could my vote possibly make?

And with one sister in Ohio and the other voting in Maryland by absentee ballot from the Galapagos Islands, my own act of civic duty seemed, well, a little boring. For Abby, however, it was exciting — the culmination of weeks spent not just singing about voting but also starting dinnertime discussions about democracy and checking the paper for election news to clip and share with her class at "Morning Meeting."

"I’m going to go in with you, right?" she said from the back seat, as we pulled into the parking lot of the Town Hall.

Inside, it was more crowded than I’d ever seen it. Several people were waiting for one machine, but the poll workers were friendly and efficient, and the line moved quickly.

Abby took all the red, white and blue stickers she could get and held my hand as we stepped into the booth.

"Who are you voting for again?" she whispered, watching carefully while I pointed to a name and then pulled the lever down. A few red Xs later, I let her move the big lever all the way to the right, registering my votes and forcing the curtains open.

After the kids went to bed, we surfed networks, with their red and blue maps, electoral vote scorecards, punchy anchors, pundits who would not make predictions. I was shocked to learn that people had waited, were still waiting, for as long as 10 hours to vote — in Ohio, mind you, not Afghanistan. I thought of my sister in Cleveland, wondering if she had to wait long and what the atmosphere was like there.

After yet another disclaimer from one of the anchors, we went to bed, opting to wait for the newspaper, which, I hoped, would announce the winner with all the confidence of black ink on newsprint.

I found out the results in a most ordinary way. While the news people waited, I went about my morning. On the way home from the dentist, I flipped on the radio, just in time to hear one disc jockey tell another that John Kerry had conceded.

I allowed myself a sigh and a few hours of depression.

Though Kerry wasn’t perfect, I thought he was a much better alternative than four more years of the current administration. But at the end of the day, my relief that we had a genuine, uncontestable, cut-and-dried result overwhelmed my disappointment that Bush had won.

Looking back a week later, I think the second-graders had it about right.

Whether you’re a poll watcher, a poll worker or a poll taker, it’s participation that counts. The college students who stood in line for hours, the soccer moms who registered voters at the county fair, the retirees who crossed off names at the polls — all of them have my respect and my gratitude.

After the 2000 debacle, what mattered most to me was not who won, but that the process worked. Even with the long lines in Ohio and other states, few irregularities were reported. Even with legal teams poised to fight, there were no major court battles. Best of all, voter turnout was up — breaking records in some cities and states — especially among young people.

Now, the challenge is to build on this momentum by keeping people informed and involved. To diehard Democrats, four years may seem like an awfully long time, but it will pass quickly. And when it comes to finding candidates who will motivate people to get up off their easy chairs, there’s not a moment to spare.

I realize now that while my vote did not make a difference in the outcome of the election, it did offer a hands-on lesson in democracy for one future voter. And in the long run, that’s what really counts.

———

Lisa Miller is a freelance writer who lives in Oneonta. She can be reached at lisamiller44@hotmail.com.