Voting is an important part of citizenship

The Moses Lake school bond passed officially Friday, Feb. 24 with a very small margin. For the last few months, I had been encouraging everyone to vote “yes” for the school bond and our kids. I especially wanted to urge the young people to vote. In talking with them, I got the impression that they thought their one vote wouldn’t make a difference. The school bond issue sure shot that theory down, as it was a four-vote difference at one point.

I’m not exactly sure when Washington state started mailing out our ballots, but I do remember before.

On the second Tuesday of November, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., people actually had to go to their polling place (mine was Peninsula School). There were local volunteers manning the official voter registration books. The volunteers verified who you were, you signed the book by your registered name, and then you went into the booth and pulled the lever for each of your choices.

Now we have the luxury of voting while in our own homes and popping the ballot in the mail or dropping it in a local ballot box as long as it is postmarked before or on the deadline date. How difficult is that?

My mother, a Swedish immigrant, came to America in 1929. She became a citizen, registered to vote and never missed voting in any election. She passed in her 90s.

November 1960, Tacoma, cold rainy weather, Election Day. Hannah, my husband’s grandmother, got off the bus coming from work, went to the polling place to vote, then walked eight to nine blocks home in the pouring rain. She was born in 1898.

I tell my kids and grandkids they have a responsibility to know the issues and the candidates, and to vote. Not only because it’s their duty, but I will never let them forget it if they don’t. Plus we owe it to all those who have come before.

Joan M. Green

Moses Lake