In October of 2008, I stood in a line ten students deep at the Kennedy School of Government on a Wednesday morning, waiting to get my absentee ballot notarized. Among others in line with me was a marine from Oklahoma giving the line a last minute pitch for McCain, a second year at the business school arguing with him, and a freshman who, he told us, really hoped he'd "make it in time for his midterm." The line was slow-moving, but the sentiment palpable: Voting mattered -- to our conceptions of the way we hoped our country moved forward, and to for us personally, to be a part of it.
We were not alone in this sentiment. 633,610 people cast absentee ballots in the 2008 presidential election, and 128.5 million voters took the time that Nov. 4 to wait in line and contribute to the determining facet of the years-long process that had been this election.
As midterm primary voting day approaches this week in several states and voters make that crucial choice between waiting in a polling lines or not, I cannot help but think that those of us who were so moved to participate in 2008 would be doing a serious disservice to those civic motivations to stay home this week.
This summer, I have had the privilege to travel around the state of Connecticut with my college roommate, whose father, Ned Lamont, is running for governor. I have been to state fairs and carnivals, gone canvassing in Darien, talked to voters as fireworks exploded above beaches on the 4th of July. I sat on the top of a hill after swimming in a Connecticut lake and listened to a state trooper speak for twenty minutes on state tax rates, pensions, and the kind of leadership he wanted to see coming out of Hartford.
And yet for all this passion, engagement, for all the curiosity and patriotism I found Connecticut to be full of, I couldn't help but wonder how many of the people we talked to would actually vote. For the citizens of any state or country, the decision to stay home for a primary is not just the decision to turn the direction of policy over to others, but also the decision to turn it over to the party insiders.
Ned Lamont is a political outsider who knows that new, young voters will be crucial to his success tomorrow. To promote the primary, his campaign produced this blockbuster movie trailer that captures some of the energy that Ned brings to this election cycle.
For all the pride the accompanies rousing speeches, parades, and campaigns, those things are only talismen of what America can be at its best. The people who wait in lines on the day it matters most are the people this country cannot move forward without. To everyone who stood in lines two years ago because it they knew it mattered, please remember that it matters every bit as much today.