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PatchWork by Joyce Whitis |
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PatchWork by Joyce Whitis |
Vote
There were four of us gathered there in the very early morning. It was chilly.
The sun that was promised hadn't yet pulled itself up above the post oaks across the highway, but we were already there, busy fixing distance markers along the rock wall, anchoring them with rocks against a steadily rising south wind, as daylight brightened the East.
Naomi, Helen, Kathy and I scattered around the room, getting ourselves fortified against the long day in different ways. For Helen and me it was yet one more cup of steaming coffee. Kathy bounded outside and around the corner for a few quick drags off a cigarette and Naomi checked up on the supply of snacks she had stashed away in a cardboard box.
The box is a story all by itself. My friend and I have served beside each other during many campaigns and journeyed forth on other important missions. On most of these, Naomi has brought along her cardboard her box of goodies. Lettering along the end of the box reads, "Sold for Members of Central California Orange Growers Co-Op," and also "Suntreat Growers and Shippers, Inc. Lindsay, California 93247, Produce of U.S.A."
Every time I see this box, my mind gathers in the picture I saw once below San Francisco where miles of orange trees, limbs sagging under the weight of the sweet orange fruit had let fall hundreds of oranges so that the bright colored fruit was piled in shallow drifts against the curbs along that busy street. However this particular packing box intended for oranges has held and transported hundreds of meals to lunches for grieving families, refreshments for baby showers, and food for those just home from the hospital. Its size, 12 by 18 inches, with holes cut along the ends for hand holds, make it a suitable container to carry anything from a bowl of pinto beans, to a huge banana pudding. It would be hard to get a public meal together in Huckabay without Naomi and her "Box".
On this election day, I watched Naomi take out dip, chips, cookies, a package of cheese, crackers, peanut butter, sliced ham, and a jug of tea, before she turned to the table of election supplies. I smiled, looking forward to the long and exciting day ahead.
By the time we had arranged the tables in the room where Marcia Norris usually teaches family living classes, taken an oath to guard the purity of the election, and spread the voter lists and signature rosters before us, the first voter had come in through the door.
The day progressed with conversation filling the gaps between voters, brief breaks with walks around the school grounds, snacks and lots of hugs when old friends came by to mark their ballots.
Election Day is a great time to catch up on all the local news, kiss all the new babies, find out what the cooks are fixing in the lunchroom, read all the bulletin boards in the hall, and sneak a seat on an end bleacher to watch six year olds toss basketballs toward the goal.
During the day that stumbles in with the alarm around 5:00 and progresses throughout the 14 hours the polls are open, continues as assorted color coded papers are documented and filed, ballots and supplies carried to the courthouse, with a sandwich grabbed from somewhere, the election results announced, its finally time for home and bed.
It's been a satisfying day!
The words are on the front pages of newspapers across the state. We re-read them in the editorials of local and statewide publications. They cast everlasting doom on the free election process. "Low Voter Turnout Expected", "Voters Show Little Interest in Election", "No Lines Anticipated At Tomorrow's Run-Off", the headlines roll on and on. We are proud to say that this is not the case in our neck of the woods!
More than 50% of the registered voters in the Exray community participated in last Tuesdays' Democrat run-off election, and more than 40% of the Huckabay voters took the few minutes needed to mark their ballots. The high interest in the selection of two candidates to represent the voters in the November general election is surely a healthy sign that residents care a lot about who holds these elective offices.
If the snacks, hugs, and conversation add to the easy atmosphere of the voting place, maybe other places ought to try that tactic to get out the vote and find a helpful neighbor to bring along a box of snacks .