November 6, 2008

editorial

Democracy, newly energized

I had the honor and privilege of voting with my young adult daughter on Tuesday. It was her first presidential election — for which she made a quick trip home from college — and in some ways I felt it was my first time, too.

What felt so exciting, when we arrived at the Bryan Center shortly after 6:30 a.m. Tuesday morning, was the size and enthusiasm of the crowd. The place was packed, with lines of voters snaking around the room. As obvious as the size of the crowd was its good humor. People seemed happy to be there, exercising this most sacred of democratic rights here in their home community. And something extra hummed through the crowd, an awareness that people were taking part in a precious, historic moment.

And they were. As the polls closed and the results began pouring in, it was clear that my daughter’s insistence on coming home to vote was part of a huge, national trend. Young voters led the way to Obama‘s victory, joined by African-Americans and Hispanics, groups customarily disenfranchised by the political process. But this year they, and millions more, were inspired by Obama’s call for change, for hope, for raising our country back up to where it belongs, a beacon of justice and fairness and freedom.

Maybe I am a new voter. Maybe we all are. Maybe, after years of cynicism about the electoral process, voters are beginning anew. While there were many winners in Tuesday’s election, one of the biggest was our democratic system of government, showing its mighty heart once again.

—Diane Chiddister