Rant #3,556: Fun

"I vote.

You vote.

Dad votes.

Mom votes.

We all vote."

That is the very first thing I ever had published, way back in the literary publication that P.S. 165 in Flushing, Queens, put out in 1962 or 1963 or so, so I was all.of five or six years old when I wrote this (or something to the same effect--I don't have a copy of the publication, but I am pretty sure this was, at least, the gist of what I wrote.)

I have always been fascinated with the voting process.

I remember going with my mother when I was just a little older--when me lived in Rochdale Village, Queens--and going behind the curtain as she voted ... I found it pretty exciting.

Now, fast forward to the present time, and I still find the voting process as interesting as ever--

This time around with a twist.

For the 2024 election--where we are voting for president--I, and my family, voted by mail for the very first time.

We decided to do this as part of our move to a new community, and I found it kind of fun.

We applied for the mail ballot a week or two ago, and the ballots came in the mail over this past weekend.

I ended up doing exactly what I said I was going to do--I wrote in a presidential candidate--and I filled in the rest of the ballot, voting for candidates in all parties.

I found this way of voting more relaxing, less pressured, less stressful, and it gave me a chance to really think.out what I was doing.

Voting at the polling place is fine, but I always felt rushed doing it there.

I did not feel rushed at all voting at home.

When I completed my ballot, I followed the instructions of preparing it to be mailed, waited for my wife and son to fill out their ballots, and the three of us sent out our ballots over the weekend.

Doing it this way this time around made it somewhat more exciting to vote again--in fact, my wife voted for maybe the first time since we were married more than 30 years ago.

The three of us voted for whoever we felt would fill the roles we voted for them for, and each of us made our own choices.

I personally stuck to my guns with my presidential choice, and I am proud of who I voted for.

If you live in New York State and want to vote by mail, go to the site listed at the end of this Rant and follow the instructions.

It is really simple to do, and better yet, it was fun to do.

Will I do it again?

I don't know, but this particular experience was so positive, that I will definitely consider doing it again in the future.

https://elections.ny.gov/request-ballot