I VOTED SATURDAY!!! by Ne Ko'da Carter-West (rm book recommendations txt) 📕

Shomari went back to Greggs’ booth while mom was reading the first question the back. She read it quietly and as I began to speak she said ‘shhhh!’ really fast. Mom said “You’re supposed to be quiet while people are voting.” Then mom started reading again, but in a fast whisper instead of quietly. She sounded a little frustrated. Then she said “This is confusing…” as Shomari walked back up to our booth.
“Read this.” Mom said as she handed Shomari her ballot.
Shomari started reading the question on moms ballot and it took him a long time, like he was reading it over and over…, like 3 or 4 times or something. Mom asked “Confusing?”, because even he looked kind of mad.
“Yes.” Shomari said.
Mom said “This is why you register to vote early and request a ‘sample ballot’, so you are not rushed into making a bad decision because you don’t know the right answer or because you just don’t understand the question because of the way it is written”.

Mom said the ladies that were working for the election board emailed her a sample ballot on October 22nd. She said a sample ballot is just like getting to look at a test before you take it so you can find all of the right answers and study them before taking the test, sort of like a study guide to help you vote quick and easy.
Shomari and I listened to mom as she taught us how to vote. It was actually interesting. She said that she thought taking us to vote with her and sharing the voting experience with us could only be a good example for us.
There were not a whole lot of questions that we had to ask because mom was answering them before we had a chance to think about them. It all looked easy and mom made it sound easy too, even though the look on her face was real serious the whole time.

Suprisingly, even though Shomari wasn’t old enough to vote, he was able to help as well. He took the time to explain to mom and me that it’s real important for us not to just read the ballot but to also read the directions.
Shomari showed us directions in the booth that showed pictures of check marks and x’s were the incorrect way to vote and that shading in the box was the right way. Mom said she never saw those directions there. So we had to go all of the way back to the beginning and shade in the boxes because we’d used check marks.

Upon finishing, mom picked up her ballot and walked over to an electronic machine that looked like a giant ticket eater from the pizza fun centers. There was no one standing there to help us but Shomari said he knew what to do, so mom gave him her ballot. 
Once you are finished with your ballot, I learned that you have to feed it into a voting machine in order to actually vote. Once we lay the ballot in the slot on the machine, the voting machine automatically pulled it in, then the Oklahoma flag showed up on the screen to assure us our vote was counted.

Today was awesome. Mom said voting is something that all Americans who can, SHOULD do. She said it’s not just your right but it’s your duty. Even though it’s a quiet, private process, voting is a way for you to be heard loud and clear. Mom said when you shade in those boxes and turn in your ballot you are saying what you want as loud as you can.
I am so glad my mom included us in the voting process, and even though I checked the president I wanted on my moms ballot and it didn’t really count as my vote, when the state seal popped up on the screen of the voting machine and said ok, I was proud because I felt like I VOTED!!!

Text: JE'ROBERTSON-WEST
Images: JE'ROBERTSON-WEST
Publication Date: 11-06-2012

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