Why We Vote

One of my greatest experiences this year was helping my father with his ballot. As he read me each of the ballot measure numbers or candidate names, I'd look them up and we'd go through the findings together. I didn't tell him how to vote, I simply asked what he was hoping for out of the situation and only shared my opinion when he asked for it.

When we did disagree on something, he'd simply laugh and say "I guess we're different here." To my surprise, we agreed most of the time. I think it helped that when we began, we both decided that voting should be an act of generosity: it wasn't about ourselves or "our side," but rather, what decisions would help the most people, especially in these uncertain times of need.

Even though we're separated by thousands of miles and navigating one of the toughest situations that our family has had to endure, going through the ballot together was a simple, unqualified joy for each of us.

Some of the people and things that he voted for won, some didn't. When we spoke yesterday, he said, "We helped people!" This was perhaps one of the most purely democratic things that I've heard in some time. And for every election in the future, I look forward to helping my dad help people.