How Many Times Have You Voted?

Every so often when an election is held, I will go to an early voting location in order to avoid the rush and hassle of voting on the actual election day. These early voting locations combine several precincts into one location and they too can have some heavy voter traffic as well. While standing in line waiting, I would hear an election clerk sing out, “First time voter! First time voter!” anytime a time a first time voter came up to check in with the election clerk. Then, most of the people standing in line would applaud upon hearing this announcement. This happened on about four or five occasions while I was waiting in line. After hearing these goofy first time voter announcements for the second or third time, I began to ask myself, what’s the big deal about being a first time voter? The ones who have voted on multiple occasions are the ones who are making our democracy work, not the first timers. What about the 25th, 50th, 75th and 100th time voters? Why aren’t they get any props and recognition.

As I began to ponder this situation further, I realized that it is fairly easy for election clerks to spot a first time voter whereas it would be impossible for them to know the voting history of one who has voted on multiple occasions. That prompted me to wonder how many times I have voted. So I called my county election office and asked. Unfortunately, they did not start keeping records on a voter’s individual history until 1994. So they emailed me a copy of my voting history as far back as 1994 and it was up to me to reconstruct my voting history prior to 1994. So according to my best estimate from the time I became of voting age to the date of this article, I have voted 58 times.