I've written about voting before, so I won't repeat my motivations and delight in voting on Election Day. This year, as I have for the past few years, I voted during the early voting period and sought to do so at a time when I expected to avoid waiting and standing for any length of time. I nailed that part this year, and, as challenging as it was to prepare to vote and then get to the polls, I managed to summon some of my previous delight in the experience.
Hays County, Texas, has a separate building just for elections, and it is quite efficient. As I entered the building, there was someone to direct me to the next station to have my ID checked. From there I went to the station to choose my ballot from several blank sheets of paper (with printed guides for inserting them in the voting machine), get a code to access the machine, and receive kind inquiries regarding my mobility needs. I felt welcomed enough to relax the tension that accompanies our democratic system these days and accepted the moment of being part of the community, even though I didn't know a soul in the room (or the building, for that matter).
And, as I voted, I felt some bubbles of the excitement I have felt in past years when I was a better informed voter, knowing some of the candidates personally and being more involved in campaigns. In this year's election, I have only been a donor for a couple of candidates (they won!) and was able to get to the door in time to speak with a campaign worker for a fellow that I only recognized from the picture on the flyer she gave me. I am ashamed to admit that I did so, saying: "Oh, yes, the beard guy!" <cringe> One thing that was clear to me as I voted was that there are a lot of elected offices in my little county, and most of the attention has been focused on those offices higher on the ballot. I was more informed and engaged on the top offices, less so on the local races, despite my very real experience and clear belief that those local races are vitally important in supporting the lives we want to lead. Clearly I have some more work to do in actually becoming a part of this community, not just a resident.
Nonetheless, there were some bubbles. I had a difficult choice to make for the Texas Senate race---whether to vote for James Talarico or Jasmine Crockett. I voted my conscience, but wished that I hadn't had to choose between two good people. I contributed to a candidate for my state representative---having been gerrymandered out of the district where I had long-time representation by Lloyd Doggett (something that had happened before in the dozens of years I've lived in Central Texas)---and, knowing her name and something of her background, I bubbled as I voted. (It is not insignificant that she or her campaign workers were quick with thanks yous and reminders.)
I was engaged enough in this election to wait impatiently for the polls to close on Tuesday. Engaged enough to check the results throughout the evening. Engaged enough to feel the excitement when my choice to the Senate moved to the front and then stayed there. The little bubbles on the map (not the source of my bubbles) showed the distribution of votes across the state. As the Central Texas bubbles grew, they outpaced the Houston area and Fort Worth in votes for Talarico. Dallas was missing for much of the evening, so there was some question whether Talarico would hold his lead when the Dallas results came in. He did, but there may still be some shifts in the count because of some confusion in the Democratic primary in Dallas County.
My engagement at this point is striking (to me) because I have, like far too many Americans, given our democracy less attention than it needs in these recent years. Perhaps that is a perpetual problem. Among the patterns that I am seeing in Felix Adler's years on the platform at the New York Society for Ethical Culture is a return from the summer hiatus with politics, especially electoral politics, on his mind. In one of these lectures (November 1894), he said:
“The apathy of the people, their absorption in the pursuit of private gain, their lack of public spirit, have been to blame,” (New York Times, October 29, 1894)
I won't admit to being apathetic, but I have been absorbed in Ethical Culture and the (far too) many committees I seem to be working on there. Now we have masked thugs on our streets---even here in Hays County (a blue county in a red state)---and we are facing the risk of further depletion of the Edwards Aquifer at a time of heavy drought from the intense pressure to allow the development of data centers.
I started this post because, as I looked at the bubbles on the map I referenced above, and then looked at the official Hays County election results from this week's primary election, I saw some patterns. Of course, there are the visible patterns of urban versus rural. There was also the surprise of what looked like heavier Democratic turnout in Travis County than in Houston or Dallas and a similar surprise at seemingly lower Democratic turnout in San Antonio. Similarly, there were patterns in the Crockett-Talarico race that reflected Texas history, with Crockett leading in the eastern counties where cotton (and slavery) once thrived and Talarico in the western counties where the population is more heavily white and Hispanic.
My biggest bubble, however, came from the Hays County election results. If the Democrats win in the fall, it looks rather like women will lead this county. Women ran for almost every office. Women took the lead enough times for me feel that bubble of interest. In one local race, a women outpolled the male incumbent. In another, while the woman did not outpoll the male incumbent, she got close enough to give that fellow some pause for thought (I hope).
Bubbles aside, this primary has given me a nudge in the direction that I need to work a bit harder to be engaged in local issues and to try to develop stronger connections to those who are working on those issues. Whether Democrats can take back Texas is less the point than protecting democracy in Texas. And the bigger point? Building relationships so that I can recognize a candidate, not by his beard, but by his platform. Or hers.
