Election Day

Today was Election Day. For one reason or another, I haven’t been able to vote in many past elections. Actually, this is the third time I go to vote.

I had my voting card ready with all my info up to date, and I went to my corresponding casilla electoral (election booth?) a couple blocks away from home. There were only three or four of us in line to vote (plus Uma ;)), but there were at least 10-12 people that were either in charge of the ‘booth’ or representatives of the different parties.

I got three ballots: one for State Governor, one for Representative in Congress, and one for Town Major. I crossed the candidate of my choice in each with a black crayon, I folded each ballot twice, and I deposited each one in its corresponding transparent box. I got my voting card back with a small engraving of today’s election, and I got my right thumb inked —this is done to prevent fraud; it’ll take a few days to wear completely off.

I am grateful that we have peaceful and transparent elections as possible. Of course, people are always complaining about frauds made, and some regions are known to have violence, riots, and whatnot.

This one was all so peaceful and quick that I don’t feel I actually had my voting “fix”! LOL!! No lines, no controversy, nothing… So very different from the first time I went to vote. It was 1988, and the line rivaled the one at the Louvre in summer. I went ahead to ask to make sure that this one was my corresponding booth before getting into such a long line. It was indeed my booth. But the funny thing was that they had already run out of ballots!!! And it was barely mid-day. But they encouraged me to get in line, since they were giving blank sheets, and there was a notary sealing all the “emergency ballots” (for a lack of a better word). I was only 21 and very naive politically-wise (still am), but I was in an utter shock of incredulity of such unashamed display of “political maneuvering” (again, for a lack of a better word). I turned around and left. 1988 is well-known to be the biggest election fraud in recent history. It was an unfortunate coincidence that it was my first voting experience which turned to be very deceiving.

But I haven’t lost hope —yet. I witnessed that we have come a long way from those 1988 elections. I know many people who purposefully do not vote or go but nullify their vote because they don’t believe in the system. I’m not sure what purpose that serves or in what way that contributes to change the system. It is my belief, at least, that voting makes you part of the solution instead of the problem.

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