Yesterday was Election Day and, like many other elections, I found some time to volunteer for a campaign. My friend Sig Hutchinson was running for state senate, so I stood outside the Lacy Elementary polling place as a poll greeter for Sig from before sunrise to 9 AM.
As I arrived, I was pleasantly surprised to see the poll greeter across from me was also supporting Democratic party candidates. For the first hour we were alone, wondering where the Republican poll greeters were. Soon after, we were joined by others, one supporting Dr. Jim Fulghrum, one supporting Dan Forest, and one supporting Caroline Sullivan. Aside from the signs and campaign material, though, you never would’ve known that we all weren’t simply good friends, though. We were having such a fun and friendly conversation that I felt compelled to snap a picture of us all, lest I wake up this morning and think it was all just a dream.
Here we all are, not just Republicans and Democrats, conservatives and liberals, or all the other labels that get applied, but Americans, North Carolinians, citizens, neighbors, and (yes) .. friends. In spite of what the campaign ads and push polls would have you to believe, we can all get along!
Kevin, Rose, John, Melissa, and Toni: all of them fine folks
Later in the morning we watched this play out in another way. A young man chased down an older gentlemen as they were both leaving the school. After these friends had exchanged hellos, one said to the other, “I guess our votes canceled each other out!” Trading backslaps and laughs, each went on their way, but not before leaving us poll greeters with even more optimism that maybe the bitter partisanship can be put aside. Maybe we can find common ground and focus on the things that unite us rather than the things that divide us.
Obama won election in 2008 on a message of hope. The hope, I came to learn, wasn’t something that Obama brought, it is something that we’ve always had.