When I went to vote on Tuesday my thoughts ran the gamut…of the better days of our culture…the unknown risks that lie ahead…remembering the people who showed the way in the past.
When I walked into the Covington Eagles Tuesday morning at 8 am I knew already that I was late. Late, that is, according to Bob Shefbuch’s standard.
Bob was my former neighbor in Covington (see photo below), an ex-United States Marine, and took pride around Covington for always being the first to vote on election day.
How early?
Well Bob told me once that he liked to be up by 4 am, coffee on with a beer chaser, and out the door to the polls by 5 am. Of course, they didn’t open until 6, but Bob was taking no chances. He had to be first.
And no early voting. Bob voted on election day. Tradition…trusted…American!
Why?
Publisher Sonny Fulks writes OHSAA and Ohio State sports for Press Pros Magazine.com.
Because Bob said he learned in the Marines Corps (Camp Pendleton) that someone always had to be first to engage the enemy, or a challenge.
He said that it was a matter of leadership. If others saw your example they’d take the responsibility more seriously, themselves. So for all those years that he voted until his death in 2011…Bob took it upon himself, lit cigarette in hand, to unofficially lead the community’s responsibility to vote.
It’s always interesting to listen to the conversations on election day, usually in the line waiting to get in the door. This year was no different, just more subdued.
The awful television ads….
The awful mailings…
The awful choices…
“We used to have people we were sure about, one party or the other,” a neighbor told me outside the building, after having voted.
“You feel helpless,” said a friend in Columbus, later in the day.
Well, in simple terms, I suspect that many feel helpless… because they’ve lost faith, and respect for government – local, state, and federal.
But once inside the voting room Tuesday a friendly face beckoned me to her desk to request a ballot.
“Can you show me your ID,” she asked.
Then, “Can you state your full name and address?”
“It’s the same as my license,” I said.
“Doesn’t matter,” she said, without smiling. “We have to ask.”
Fair enough. Just like in New York.
I was holding a cup of coffee that I brought with me from my car. As I fumbled with my wallet another lady offered to hold the cup.
“Oh, I remember when you and your parents had the strawberry farm back then,” she smiled. “You guys had the best strawberries, and I just love this old cup. The strawberries on it reminded me.”
A bit of local polling personality. You don’t get that with early voting!
And the attorneys always find a way to make their presence felt.
Issue 3 was on the ballot, an amendment to make it state law that you must show a government issued ID in order to vote. Seems reasonable.
But many, I suspect, struggled with the explanation on the ballot that must have been at least three hundred words long – legal mumbo-jumbo. A sign of the times.
On my way to the car I noticed that there weren’t many smiles, either inside or in the line waiting to get in. Instead, there were faces of concern, as if they’d been told they have a terminal disease. This election, like none before, has made voting a more personal matter to those who pay the bills.
Bob Shefbuch always had an answer. And I’m sure he would have had something to say.
Sanctity be damned. “Meet me at the Amvets.”
First to engage.
Bob was always first…and still memorable!
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