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👏 🩷 My First Time Voting—and I Got a Surprise Round of Applause! 👏 🩷 As I wrote in my essay below, “I Was Born an American,” I became a U.S. citizen precisely because I wanted to vote—to exercise my rights as a citizen and defend the freedom of this country, which once was, and still is, a beacon of liberty, from being eroded, corrupted, or even ultimately destroyed by evil ideologies, particularly communism. The power of a single vote may be limited, but doing nothing is even worse. Early this morning, my husband and I went to a nearby polling place to vote early. As a new citizen who was naturalized earlier this year, this was my very first time voting. And for my husband, who was born and raised in America, it was also his first time voting in a midterm election. Previously, he had only voted in presidential elections—or simply hadn't voted at all. He's a typical engineering-minded guy, not particularly interested in politics. Including today, he has voted only four times in his entire life... I asked him why he had decided to vote in a midterm election this time. His answer was simple: "This midterm is too important... I don't want America heading toward the wrong direction..." As I explained in the videos below, we were not asked to show any identification. We were, however, asked to provide our names, dates of birth, and addresses. Once those matched the records in the system, we were asked to sign on a device, and then we received our ballots. (If people can register to vote on the election website without providing proof of citizenship, that would be a loophole... I believe I was automatically registered when I became a citizen.) I happily told the poll workers that I had just become a U.S. citizen earlier this year and that this was my first time voting. They congratulated me and handed me a large ballot tucked inside a stiff folder covered with instructions. They explained what to do next: First, go into a voting booth and completely fill in the little circles next to the names of the candidates you want to vote for. Be careful not to color outside the circles. Then bring your completed ballot out and feed it into the ballot-counting machine. If you don't know how to do it, there will be someone there to help you. The small voting booth was completely enclosed by red and blue curtains, ensuring that no one outside could see how I voted. Inside the booth, I noticed that the ballot had an ID number (mine was 17XX, as shown in Photo 3). That seemed like a fairly rigorous system, didn't it? After marking my ballot, I came out to "feed" it into the counting machine. A poll worker told me to watch the number on the screen. If it went up by one, that meant my ballot had been counted. I stared at the screen. A few seconds later, the machine beeped, and the number changed from 2004 to 2005. Suddenly, the entire polling place erupted in applause! All the poll workers were clapping for me and calling out: "Congratulations, First-Time Voter!" I was completely caught off guard! I suddenly felt a little shy and didn't even dare pull out my phone to capture the moment. Drawn by the applause, other voters in the polling place also turned to look at me. I became even more bashful and practically "fled" through the door in a flustered hurry... Outside the entrance, there was a "Vote Here" sign standing on the ground. So I asked my husband to take a photo of me beside it, to document and commemorate yet another important day in my life (Photo 4). Looking back now, I somewhat regret rushing out of the building so quickly amid all that applause. I really should have taken the time to properly acknowledge and thank those wonderful poll workers. At the same time, I was deeply moved. The fact that they would arrange such an unexpected "applause ceremony" for a rookie voter like me, making me the center of attention in the polling place for a brief moment, showed me something important: In this country, people still regard the right to vote as something sacred—something worthy of pride and celebration. And for a rookie voter like me, they offered such warm encouragement and a heartfelt "embrace." After we left, I shared my feelings with my husband. He reflected that, compared with the "thousands of mountains and rivers" I had crossed to reach this polling place, Americans too often take the rights they were born with for granted. He suddenly felt a little ashamed himself for having voted only four times in his entire life... Finally, he said, "For a low-propensity voter like me to come out and vote this time just shows how important this midterm election really is..." I looked it up: Over the past 20 years, average voter turnout in U.S. midterm elections has been only 42%, compared with 62% in presidential election years. I wonder what turnout will be like this year. Whatever happens, I remain full of hope for the future of this country that I love so dearly. To all the rookie and veteran voters out there: Have you voted yet this year? Or are you planning to?

Inconvenient Truths — Jennifer Zeng Reports

36,958 görüntüleme • 22 saat önce