Voting

“Are you sure you can’t tell me anything about your November 1st address?”

I stared up at the clipboard-toting volunteer and fought back the urge to say, “Can you find me a lease?” My roommate and I were waiting for a train back from visiting potential apartments for our November 1st move. It had already been a long day, and things got tougher once I realized that it would be difficult to register my new address in time for the election.

“Sorry, but I really don’t know,” I answered, then listened to him explain same-day registration. I had moved to Chicago in August 2013, but this would be my first time voting in Illinois. I’m ashamed to admit that I didn’t vote in 2013, a departure from my previously perfect voting record. I had been overwhelmed with a new job and my first apartment search in Chicago. This year would be different.

“Oh, hi!” I turned to the woman who had just registered while sitting on the CTA bench next to me and recognized my roommate’s friend, Alex. Like myself and my roommate, Alex was a twenty-something Chicago transplant, a perfect target for volunteers registering new voters. “I thought about voting absentee in Virginia, but I figured I should vote in Illinois now,” she explained. We confirmed plans for brunch the next day, then after that weekend I didn’t see Alex for a few weeks.

The next time I saw Alex, she was waiting in line to vote at 69 W. Washington during early voting. It looked like the wait would take at least two hours. Meanwhile, I was looking for the same-day registration section. “Take the escalator upstairs and they’ll help you,” a helpful woman wearing a sticker instructed me. “You can vote there, too.”

Feeling grateful that elementary school taught me to trust adults with stickers, I followed her advice and found the early registration area, where there was a wait of only three people instead of the long line I had seen downstairs.

I had already planned my votes for governor, the Senate and all of the ballot initiatives, but I hadn’t put much research into my decision beyond that. If forced to choose between two candidates whom I didn’t know, I had an established policy of voting for the woman.

I realize that some may critique this decision as anti-male or a strike against equality. Though I understand why some interpret equality as equal treatment of all regardless of their identity, I think it’s more productive to practice equity, an approach where we make our decisions with an eye toward where people are coming from. Since women are underrepresented and disadvantaged in politics, I think it makes sense to act against these disadvantages by favoring women in the voting booth.

I registered and voted in under twenty minutes, then left feeling slightly guilty about the difference between my experience and Alex’s experience. She and her boyfriend waited 50 minutes in line, then took 10 minutes to vote. Though I felt guilty, I was also extremely grateful that I had been able to register and vote on the same day. I’d always opposed laws against voter id and mandatory waiting periods for voter registration, because I felt they disenfranchised lower-wealth individuals who couldn’t afford identification, or younger people, like college students, who were more likely to frequently change addresses. This election cycle, I realized that I, too, ran the risk of being disenfranchised by the laws I had opposed on principle. Early voting wasn’t perfect this year, but I’m grateful to have gotten in.