![\"Absentee](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/r9f.352.myftpupload.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Ballots.jpg\")
<\/a>My husband and I are political junkies\u2014or at least we were until we had to stop following the news to preserve our mental health. Still, we consider voting a duty, not a privilege. So when our eldest daughter turned 18 in 2006, I wrapped her birthday presents in voter registration forms.<\/p>\nEven then, back in the days when hope was ascendant and our fervor less dampened, voting was complicated. For Emma\u2019s first election, we sat down together at the dining room table piled high with Voter Guides, newspaper clippings and endorsements, and a small forest\u2019s worth of glossy political ads. The lesson commenced.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s pretty impossible to be well informed about all the issues and candidates,\u201d I instructed. \u201cSo one strategy is to follow the recommendations of people you trust. Or compare all the editorial endorsements of various newspapers and average them out.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen there\u2019s plenty of well-intended but poorly drafted initiatives. You have to decide what message you want to send or whether to vote purely on the merits. It\u2019s perfectly reasonable to vote your ideals, but it\u2019s also a good strategy to vote pragmatically. Sometimes, to be honest, I vote against whoever is using the most FULL CAPS in the voter information pamphlet\u2014never trust someone who only knows how to shout.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is really depressing,\u201d sighed Emma, staring at hundreds of blank bubbles on her vote-by-mail\u00a0ballot.<\/p>\n
When our daughter Ally turned 18 three years later, she was less interested in my\u00a0voter education drill. In fact, she registered in her college town, beyond the reach of my knowledge of local issues. Still, a mother can dream of eternal influence, so I sent Ally my trusted friend\u2019s carefully researched election recommendations on statewide and federal choices. \u00a0I assumed she\u2019d be thankful for my guidance.<\/p>\n
Wrong again.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really don\u2019t appreciate you sending me that,\u201d declared Ally. \u201cI\u2019m trying to be my own person.\u201d<\/p>\n
I apologized immediately, adding how proud I was that she was following the issues and figuring things out for herself.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow are you staying informed?\u201d I ventured.<\/p>\n
Ally replied, \u201cI\u2019m just going to vote according to this mailer I got from the Democratic Party.”<\/p>\n
So much for Ally\u2019s declaration of independence.<\/p>\n
Always the child who suffered most from Post-Traumatic-Dinner-Table-Political-Rants, Ally has now removed herself even farther from our impassioned discussions and maternal interference, to Barcelona. So Jerry Brown and the Democrats will have to make do without her vote.<\/p>\n
Emma, though, wanted me to send her mail-in\u00a0ballot to Brooklyn, where she\u2019s been temporarily sojourning as a starving artist. I am happy to report that she\u2019s been calling for election advice.<\/p>\n
Trouble is, now that hope has curdled, I have been shirking my civic responsibilities by being less well-informed. Of course I’ll vote, but I hadn’t quite gotten around to the research phase. So I suggested a couple of sources to check out, then gave the only reliable advice I could:<\/p>\n
\u201cRemember, the ballot must ARRIVE by the end of election day, not just be postmarked. So be sure to mail it in time. And please–let us\u00a0know what you find out, so you can tell us how to vote.\u201d<\/p>\n
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What is your method of being an informed voter? How have you talked to your kids about politics and voting? Do they follow your lead?\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" My husband and I are political junkies\u2014or at least we were until we had to stop following the news to preserve our mental health. Still, we consider voting a duty, not a privilege. So when our eldest daughter turned 18 … Continue reading