Just took my newly minted 18yro to vote

[Chicagogrl1]

What an election to cast your first vote in!! He did his research & took his time w/ the judges. So proud of him & his generation. Hoping we all can save our democracy.

[11 Bravo]

1. Good for him, and good for you!

[ProfessorGAC]

2. Sounds Like An Exciting Day

Good for both of you!

[MaryMagdaline]

3. Congrats! And thank you for raising a good citizen. It's not easy

[samnsara]

4. what a good boy you have!

[RKP5637]

5. Excellent! And especially about judges. Often people don't bother with them ... but they must

be scrutinized too.

[dem4decades]

6. Thanks. Hope he has a lot of friends that will step up too. It's their world we're talking about.

[Baked Potato]

7. Good for you two!

[Buckeyeblue]

8. Nice. My 17 year old wishes like mad that this was her first election.

[Lochloosa]

9. Tell her she'll get to vote for Kamala next time.

[LizBeth]

10. That is awesome, and wonderful. I had one that had a first in 2016. Got him active for 2020. It does

our hearts so proud seeing our youth smart. Gives us hope.

[ancianita]

11. Congratulations. This is the year youth just might do it for their future.

[Puppyjive]

12. Mine too!

My son is 18 and voted this year. If he could have voted in the last election, he would have voted for Trump. Our young man has figured it out mostly on his own. He has done a complete turn around. Proud of him. And he is getting good grades his first year of college! I will take the win!

[beaglelover]

13. Awesome!!

[jb5150]

14. I remember voting in my very first election ...

it's really quiet exciting.

[Hortensis]

15. I was just reminding our 14-year-old grandson, who is interested

in politics, that he's growing up at a very odd and dangerous point in our history, not "normal" at all. Things like living wages for people at virtually all skill levels and college tuition so low it can be paid for like groceries are just some things today's kids don't know were normal in the past and should be normal for them.

There's no school Tuesday, so he'll be keeping an occasional eye on what could be the most important election of his life, or definitely one of them. No matter how it goes, I hope it becomes a memory that ultimately helps develop understanding for life of what goes into democracy or causes failure. The fall of the Roman Empire's apparently been covered in school, and he is aware our republic can fail, even if he of course can't comprehend the consequences.

[japple]

16. I wish my parents had been able to do this for me, but 1968 was a mad scramble of a year

for my family. I turned 18, but didn't vote that year because I went off to school and didn't know enough to vote by absentee ballot. Things at home were chaotic, but I know my very Democratic parents made the right choices. At least I was registered and voted in the 1972 election for George McGovern.

Bless you for making this an event that your son will remember!

[deurbano]

17. This is my daughter's first election, too! She was a poll worker during the CA primary and for

a San Francisco election last fall, but still too young to vote. She would have worked at the polls this time, too, but she is living at home (attending college remotely) or sometimes staying with her grandmother (to help out and provide support), and both our households have at-risk members, so we asked her not to be a poll worker this time. She started a Young Democrats club at her high school, so she is ready and excited to vote! We had originally planned to vote early, but now we are probably going to drop our ballots off at own precinct.

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

18. My 18 year old also voted via absentee ballot

He just turned 18 a couple weeks ago.

[calimary]

19. Fantastic!!!

Congratulate him and THANK him for all of us, too!

Well done, young man!

[Upthevibe]

20. Chicagogrl1...

My heart is warmed.... A big thank you to you and to your 18 year old.


If this past four years has done anything, PLEASE DEAR GOD let it be that this NEVER happens again. I know I'm speaking to the choir here but if we can influence others in some kind of a major way it - it could mean a brand new world in this country. Things really haven't been working for a long time (IMHO) for the average person. I have a bachelor's degree, and I definitely have had more opportunities. This includes being able to make more money but even with my degree, the wage stagnation is unacceptable! The money truly does go to the top level managers that get the million dollar bonuses and are the ones cleaning up on the back of the workers. Unregulated Capitalism run amok DOES NOT WORK FOR THE REGULAR EMPLOYEE! My brother worked for Enron and when it collapsed in 2001 he lost a lot. Thank God he had diversified enough to be able to live on what he had salvaged for the next 14 years until his death in 2015.

We need to start with the school systems and education. Political Science and Critical Thinking (it's really a class. I had to take two in college and thank God I did) need to be REQUIRED in elementary school, middle school, high school, and college. At lease one full year (two semesters) during these three or four phases in each student's educational experience.

Some people simple can't connect the dots and critical thinking classes could really help. Of course there are a lot of people who've never taken a critical thinking class and they're completely able to understand that when you do this, that will happen (just fill in the blanks). I have a friend (we're not really speaking now because of QAnon) who graduated high school and knows NOTHING about the three branches of government and she has NO critical thinking skills what-so-ever. She watched "a guy" on YouTube and read "on the Internet" about QAnon. She then "went down the rabbit hole" and did her "research." She's never had to write a paper for college (I went back when I was 36 and graduated at 41 so that might be why I see the value so clearly). Therefore, she's never had to cite sources when stating a fact or making a claim. And she's unable to grasp that the QAnon Conspiracy Theory (which has become a factor in this election) is logistical impossible!

I'm sorry for my rant but I see very clearly some relatively easy steps that could be taken. And I'm frustrated that there are so many people who live here that are STUPID and HATEFUL and this monster in the White House has brought that out out in them....

[iluvtennis]

22. + agree Civics and Critical Thinking Classes should be required in middle & high school. And

unregulated capitalism that creates the top 1/2 % and everyone else is at the bottom is unacceptable. I'm looking forward to infrastructure and renewable energy jobs to create a new industrial revolution for this country and spur a financial expansion for the middle class and poor.

[iluvtennis]

21. Excellent! My two Gez Z/Zoomers voted for the first time as well. And agree, the young will save

our democracy.