October 16, 2020
From the Editor / About my first time … voting
Mike Sato

Voted yet? Remember your first time? Ballots for the 2020 general election began arriving in mailboxes
this week, along with reminders such as this on a south Bellingham fence.

photo: Amy Nelson © 2020
October 16, 2020
From the Editor / About my first time … voting
Mike Sato

share:

Many voters plan to leave their completed ballots in official drop boxes such as this one in the Whatcom County Courthouse Central Avenue parking lot, between Prospect Street and Grand Avenue in Bellingham. (Amy Nelson photo © 2020)

The first time I voted was in November 1968. I was angry and scared about the war, heartbroken about Martin Luther King, Jr., and Bobby Kennedy, exhausted after working for Eugene McCarthy and watching Hubert Humphrey nominated, and filling out an absentee ballot sent from Hawaii.

I voted for Eldridge Cleaver, Black Panther Party. I voted in anger; I don’t recall voting down the ballot for any other offices or issues. Since then I’ve voted in every presidential election, sometimes in anger, sometimes not. And always down the ballot for all other offices and issues.

How about you? When was your first time voting? 

Share your story with others by sending an email (100 words max) with a headshot to SalishCurrent@gmail.com, subject line: Voting.

The views expressed in the essays, analyses and opinions as Community Voices are those of the author exclusively and not those of Salish Current. We welcome letters to the editor responding  to or amplifying on subjects addressed in Community Voices. 

If you wish to contribute to Community Voices, please send an email with a subject proposal to Managing Editor Mike Sato (msato@rockisland.com)and he will respond with guidelines.

— Mike Sato, Managing Editor

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