Thanks for Voting

To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.

- Louis L'Amour

Thanks to all who exercised their right to vote today.

Here at Ruby's, if you show up on election night wearing your red-white & blue "I Voted" sticker, you get a free Chicago style hot dog, fries and a soft drink. For those of you who have never had a Chicago hot dog, you're in for a treat. Now I know our reputation, but regardless, you only get one vote and one hot dog!

You start with a vienna hot dog that's been steamed, not boiled. Then you get yourself a really fresh hot dog bun that has poppy seeds on top. A little mustard, catsup, onions, a dill pickle spear, chopped tomatoes and sprinkle liberally with celery salt. There are some variations on this basic hot dog setup, depending on the neighborhood.

We're actually 50 miles west of Chicago, so we're far from the colorful precincts of the city. Let me give you a little peek into my polling place.

We vote in the basement fellowship hall of the little Lutheran church on Hanson Road. You have to pull around the back side and park in the small lot. There's never a problem finding a space, except this morning. Turnout was heavy. Most times I've never encountered more than three people voting. This time there were a couple dozen!

The worker at the polls include MarJo and her husband Buck - they're hog farmers. Most of the poll workers are farmers and their wives. The wives cook up a whole passel of food, enough to last the entire day and into the evening. The spread sure looks great, but the voters are respectful that the vittles are for the workers.

The voting booths are simple tall plastic tables with sides and metal legs. They're assembled on site, and we only have 8 of them. The voting is done by sliding your paper card into a small plastic box and you use a little metal punch to poke through the ballot.

I checked mine really close and there weren't any pregnant chads that I could see.

Everybody walks over to the cardboard ballot box and slips their vote in and picks up their sticker.

After work people stop in to have a hot dog and a little conversation. We've all had enough of talking heads and such., so instead of watching the election coverage we bring in the DVD player and watch "True Grit".

There aren't any arguments, we're all just happy to have had our say. And the chips will fall where they may.

Comments

[barb]

aawww...i didn't get a sticker. just a little pieceo of paper that looked very much like a taxi receipt.

[David]

Hi Ruby:

Half the country is jubliant and half the country is in mourning. Meanwhile, 100,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed in this war on terror, while at home the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. At least we still have our hot dogs.

All the best,

David