The Vote

Do you vote in political elections?

“There is no such thing as a vote that doesn’t matter”

Barrack Obama

The process started the evening before, we were given details on the destination, so after detailed research, we decided to divide and conquer. The kids could not be left home alone, so while one got ready and got them out, the other would go ahead and hold a place in the line that was going to be long.

I left home at 7 am and got in line. I must’ve been the 5^th or 6^th person that had reached. The one thing Dad had always insisted on, was to tackle government agencies first thing in the morning. He ensured we were the first in the queue to pay the electricity, water, or telephone bills. Billing issues only started when we moved things online, because, if it was physical, we had the system down to a science. 1^st the pay came in, 2^nd we were in the queue paying the bills and we were usually done in 15 minutes, 3^rd we went back to normal life. Around 10 am, the kids joined me in the line along with the husband, and twenty minutes later, we started playing oral games. Name-Place-Animal-Thing, Atlas, and Count the Number of white (or any random color) cars were games we played while waiting in queues. Around noon, it was finally our turn. We went and stood in the counter, and the volunteer asked us to provide the documents. Proof of marriage, proof of ownership, copy of passport or a valid driver’s license, everything in original along with copies of it all in triplicate. Quickly flipping through them all, they took a few, handed the rest back, and then told us to go and stand in the next line. This was the line for the photograph. A photographer flitting from one light fixture to the other kept adjusting the angle of the shades for the perfectly lit, passport picture. I waited with the husband and kids in this line for an hour or more, and then it was my turn to sit on the stool. Just before I sat down, I asked the photographer why the pictures were taken if all of us had carried our passport pictures with us. So, he told us, this was only if you did not have the pictures to submit. Otherwise, you submit the pictures, and you will be done. When I mentioned that the volunteer insisted, that we wait in line, he turned around and hollered in the general direction of the line and the volunteer in question, “If you have two copies of your passport pictures, then you don’t need to stand in line, please submit the picture in the next counter. Please do not stand in line if there is no requirement”. I had spent a little more than half a day standing in a queue waiting to submit the required documents to prove that I belonged to a particular constituency and would be voting from there.

At that point in time, we were informed that the cards would be dropped off at our residences in a month- the time it would take the government to verify the details we had submitted. After almost 6 weeks, my Voter’s ID was dropped, and from then on for the next few days, a card was dropped. Each card, with my image, and my details, with minute errors on the cards. This was more like ‘identify the error’ and ‘abandon the irrelevant card’. The voter’s ID cannot be copied as each card is issued after relevant assessments and only after the hologram has been affixed on it. And I had six of those cards, all with valid holograms fixed on them.

On the day of the election, I took these random cards- all six of them along with my passport and license as well, because I had no idea what details would be held at the voting booth. Again, as is typically done the way Dad had taught me, I was in the queue first thing in the morning, this time, the voting booth was situated in the kid’s school, which we could see from our home, so, I told the kids to sit at the window and watch out for us, and we would be back as soon as it was done. The only time government agencies stick to an early morning start is during elections. The volunteers and police personnel manning these booths, come in during the wee hours and set up the booths. The citizens typically start queueing around 8 am, because you don’t want to seem over eager. But these things did not bother me, I was there in that booth at 7 am sharp, and as the only two people there, the husband and I were probably the first ones to cast our vote in that booth. We walked in and out in less than ten minutes, long before the ‘q’ of the queue started to form. As we were walking back home, after casting our vote, we were discussing the process to get to this point. It took us a lot of planning – collating documents, taking pictures, making copies, and then standing in a queue, waiting while the details were checked, and then checking again and waiting patiently for the cards to come that would allow us the right to vote. So much time and effort, for something that took so little time and was at the end of the day, a game of luck and chance and hope, that things would change, and it would improve.

But that tiny blueish-violet ink, smudged on your finger, suddenly made you feel all-powerful, because you had claimed what was promised. A brighter, better, and clearer future – whatever or however that would translate or convert.

“Every election is determined by the people who show up”

Larry J Sabato