( - promoted by jmelli)
Today is a special day in my life.
Today is not the first time I will be voting (my fourth, actually), but it is the first time I have seen my name on an official ballot.
Today is not the first time I have run for an office (I was active in my high school political organization, JSA, and ran for Mayor of the group in 2005), but it is the first time I am running to serve with adults, not just people of my own age.
Today I am voting for myself for Union County (NJ) Democratic Committeeman. It is a strange feeling, to say the least. |
| It began last August, when I attended a DFA training session in New Jersey that was led by Jim Dean (Howard Dean's brother, and the Chair of DFA). It was a great time, with over 100 dedicated Democrats of all backgrounds and beliefs, sharing a common vision - to take our country back from the ground up. At the end of the 2-day session, inspired by what I had seen, heard and done, I stood up and announced that I would run for a County Committee seat in my hometown of Berkeley Heights. I was met by support and encouragement from many different folks in New Jersey's DFA, such as Rosi Efthim, Jeff Gardner and David Robinson. I owe a debt of gratitude to all three of them.
As things turned out, I didn't need to do much running. Union County is Democratic turf in New Jersey (it gave Bob Menendez 58% in 2006, even though Tom Kean, Jr. is from the county), but my hometown is rather Republican, giving George Bush 57% in 2004. As a result, my precinct (#10) had no Democratic Commitee members. So it was fine with the county Democratic organization for me to be on the ballot.
Two weeks ago, my sample ballot appeared in the mail. There I was, in Column 10, Row A, with my last name (like the others) slightly larger than the first. It read "Stephen Yellin, Male County Committeeman" (as if "male and "man" wasn't a tad old-school, but oh well). I had looked at every sample ballot for years, thinking sometimes to myself "Who ARE these people?". After all, I don't know them from Adam (or Eve); who is to say whether they'll do a good job or not? It's a matter of trust - important trust, in the case of elections - and I understand why some voters are undecided right until they get into the voting booth.
Now I was seeing my own name on that very same ballot. It's rather weird, seeing your name on an official ballot from the government. It's as if you're just another person, another name for people to select (if they even vote at all today) on a long list of names. I'd guess that 90% of the people who vote for me today have never even met me. How do they know what I will and will not do? They don't know what I'm proposing to do, or what I stand for, or my background. Would they write-in someone if they knew, or skip my name, or vote for me happily? Who knows?
If they knew what I plan to do, I think they would indeed vote for me happily. I'm going to organize my precinct as best I can, talk to my members on a regular basis, hold events and forums and make sure their opinions are heard on the county level. I may be 19, but I am energetic, proud of my party and ready to make a difference. I can only hope that I will do my job to the best of my ability, and throw my own small pebble into the rock pile of votes today. Although with very low turnout expected (15% would be nice, sadly enough), it may not be much of a pile.
Later today I will be voting for myself, to sit with my elders and work with them to create a stronger Democratic Party in Union County. I will not lie, I will not cheat, and I will not abuse my office. I will take my job seriously, and work as an equal member with an equal voice in the County Committee. Perhaps most importantly, I will make my fellow Democrats in Berkeley Heights proud.
Indeed, today is a special day in my life. I may not go very far in electoral politics - heck, this may the only office I ever run for in my adult life - but however far I go, I will take each office as seriously as I do today. |
