Today marked a milestone for my parents: they cast their first votes in the United States! This isn’t just any old trip to the polling station; it’s the third country where they’ve exercised their right to vote. They started in India, voting in the bustling elections till 1988, then transitioned to the laid-back yet enthusiastic ballots of Australia for the next 25 years. Now, here they are, proudly participating in the grand democratic experiment of the United States.
Let me paint you a picture of their voting journey:
1980s India: Imagine this: my parents, eagerly standing in line under the sweltering Indian sun, holding on to their voter IDs like they were Willy Wonka’s golden tickets. It was a chaotic but vibrant experience – people buzzing with excitement, street vendors seizing the chance to sell chai and snacks to long lines, and occasionally, a goat or two making an appearance for reasons no one fully understood. They cast their votes with ink-stained fingers, ensuring they left their mark on the world’s largest democracy. For them, voting wasn’t just an act; it was an event, one that came with family outings and the inevitable post-vote debate over who did what wrong. Vote matters
2000s Australia: Fast forward to the ‘land down under’ – Australia, where voting day came with a sausage sizzle. Yes, you read that right. Australians have turned Election Day into a mini-festival complete with sausage barbecues outside polling stations. My parents were charmed by this democratic brunch: “Who knew civic duty could come with ketchup?” they’d laugh while politely refusing the non-vegetarian food.
2024 United States: And now, here they are in the U.S., their third democracy, casting their ballots with pride. They went armed with their IDs, their decades of experience, and a little bit of bewilderment at the sheer scale of American elections. “Why are there so many options on the ballot? Should we be voting for the library’s janitor, too?” they whispered, half-joking.
But they pushed through, determined to make informed choices, even if they had to consult a small mountain of pamphlets to make sense of the propositions, referenda, and the seemingly endless list of candidates. They navigated the digital voting booths, buttons flashing like they were using a giant iPad, squinting at the screen and double-checking each selection as if they’d been given the nuclear codes. And in the end, they walked out with “I Voted” stickers proudly displayed – a fitting capstone to this trifecta of voting countries.
Why voting matters: It’s easy to forget, in our busy lives, that the right to vote didn’t come easily. For people of colour, women, and Indigenous communities, it was the result of long, often painful battles. My parents know this – they come from a generation that saw democracy evolve, that understands the power and privilege of voting. They’ve taught me that no matter how small you may feel in the grand scheme of things, your vote matters. They’ve shown me that, from Bombay to Sydney to Tustin, the heart of democracy beats through each citizen’s voice.
So, here’s to my parents, who’ve voted across three continents, and to the next generation that will carry this sense of civic duty forward. And here’s to voting – whether it comes with an ink-stained finger, a sausage sizzle, or a digital touchscreen.
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