My Very First Vote

The year was 1980. I had just turned 18 and was eligible to vote for the first time. A month before, I stumbled across a small rally for Independent candidate John Anderson. I listened to his rather compelling speech and signed up to volunteer...though I did so right before my birthday.

My dad was a staunch Republican who strictly voted a straight party ticket. He favored Ronald Reagan, whom I loathed due to a documentary I had seen on HBO regarding then-California Governor Reagan and his response to anti-Vietnam student protesters. His greasy smile was far too smarmy for me to feel anything except sheer repulsion.

I did not pin much hope onto the incumbant, President Jimmy Carter. After that disasterous accident during a failed attempt to free the hostages in Iran, I knew that his time had come and gone. No one at the time knew what machinations Reagan's campaign had crafted that potentially caused the "accident." Karl Rove was definitely involved in undercutting any confidence the American voters had in Carter. In retrospect, there was no chance that Carter could have been re-elected after Turdblossom left his mark.

So, here I was: a starry-eyed idealist ready to cast her very first vote in a presidential campaign. This was back when they actually had voting booths with a multitude of levers that punched holes in the voting cards. Also, this was in San Antonio, Texas. The booths were huge, and completely ensured a private choice with a clear paper trail. While they seem awkward in retrospect, I still believe that my first vote was properly tabulated. (Such halcyon days!)

I cast my first vote for the first in what would become a series of losers, punctuated by the occasional winner. My vote was cast for Anderson. The very same minute, my own father stood in an adjacent booth and voted for Reagan. We were a family divided, though not by much. The former Republican senator was not that much of a wild card, so Rove refused to attack such a marginal candidate since the Democratic incumbant was such an easy target. Bullies often determine their victim by the ease at which they can ready an attack.

Even so, I do not regret the fact that I was able to vote for someone of my own choosing. That's what I was taught to do in high school government class. That is what I still do to this very day.