Twenty years ago I cast my vote for Ronald Reagan. He won! Two weeks ago, I mailed in my ballot voting for President Bush. I’m praying he wins.
Of course, twenty years ago I was too young to vote. But my mom was recently going through her journals and found an entry from election day, 1984, when I was barely 1 year old: “Gretchen voted for President Reagan today and he won!” Obviously, my parents took me to the polls and let me punch Mom’s ballot. (www.takeyourkidstovote.org is a good website including a coloring sheet for kids to keep track of the electoral results.)
This year was my first year to officially vote in a presidential election, at the age of 21. (My 9-year-old sister has been calculating how long each of our cousins will have to wait after they turn 18 to vote in a presidential election.) I proudly voted for George W. Bush as my President for 4 More Years!
No third-party voting for me, except in our local Senate district where there’s not a Democrat running, just a Republican and Constitutionist. I agree with Phil Sheldon that, “The ‘wasted’ vote is the one that tries to ‘send a message’ rather than actually affect the outcome. …If we vote for a third party candidate, we may win a tiny rhetorical battle, but lose the larger war.”
So the question of today is, Have you voted yet?? I took my sister to town with me yesterday. No one could get upset with a 9-year-old asking them, “Did you vote yet?” She got mostly positive responses, and compliments on the Bush-Cheney t-shirt she was wearing. Of course, many people asked her right back, “Have you voted yet?” If she did, we’d have some definite voter fraud problems! But if she could, she certainly would vote for Bush-Cheney ’04. And every night (and at every meal) she and my little brother pray that President Bush will win.
I’m thankful that the news stations are keeping quiet this year. I fully expected to wake up here on the west coast and have them already claiming Kerry won. Maybe they learned their lesson last time, or if not then, from Dan Rather’s mistakes. Though Yahoo has a great article with numerous websites to watch for results, I will be frequenting only a few sites today:
- Electoral-Vote.com – He’s a Kerry supporter, but his compilation of stats is incredible.
- GOP USA – Who else would I trust to give me the results?
- Fox News Race Tracker – To track the definition of marriage amendments on the ballot in 11 different states (Mississippi, Montana, and Oregon, as well as Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma and Utah).
- My local news station website – for my local election results.
- Focus on the Family’s Citizen Link Election News – another good place to watch for results of key ballot issues across the nation
I’m hoping and praying for 3 victories this election:
- Bush-Cheney for 4 More Years!
- Measure 36 One Man, One Woman Definition of Marriage Amendment here in Oregon!
- The re-election of State Representative Gordon Anderson whom I work for!
If you haven’t voted yet, please vote. Every single vote will make a difference this election. And if you’ve already voted, then while we wait, we must pray. God bless President Bush and God bless America!
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