Life of Wry

About 20 of us spread out all over the Modesto Junior College campus today to register young students to vote. All told, we registered about 160 students today.. not bad!

Democracy begins with voting, and voting begins with registration.. so we did our part. All kinds of studies show that if you register people when they are 18, they are more likely to become life-long voters. College students are, by definition, educated (or on their way to becoming educated), and educated voters more often lean left (because: duh).

You see where this is going.

Registering young people to vote, especially students, is good work. It’s tedious, but it’s good work. So today felt good.

That said… holy cow….

Sometimes, because they’re kids and I’m an adult, I have the advantage: they sort of cower and do what they are told.. as in,

“We’re here today registering students to vote, may I help you register?”
“Uh…. “
“Here, it’ll just take 5 minutes and then you’ll be all set, there’s time before your next class, yeah?”
“Uh… ok”

And, sometimes, because they’re kids, they are just so resistant, or they say they are just not interested in politics, or they just don’t want to do it now, or they have no bloody idea what you’re talking about. It’s funny.

Three of us came from Davis (others from the Bay Area!). Our Davis trio was Linda, Nancy and me. Each of us registered 9 voters. That a 90-minute drive each way, and 3-ish hours of wandering around campus looking for victims (er.. unregistered students). We met in Davis at 8:30 and got home at 4:30.. so there was fluff time in there (lunch, training). It’s a lot of time, and I’m pooped. But again… it’s productive.

You’re welcome!