The Vanishing Habitat of the American Voting Booth

At the risk of sounding nostalgic, I can still recall the days when voting booths roamed free across our great land, from the Eastern shores, through the Central plains, over the Western mountains, to Washington State, and beyond. I remember when volunteers would herd those early species, like great gray mastodons into school auditoriums, and various community centers on Election Day. I can still see my neighbors lining up to visit the armor-skinned behemoths, and I can still see the docile gray creatures waiting patiently for each citizen to cast his or her ballot. I can still hear the levers flipping, as votes mechanically clank into place. But most of all I can still see and hear those curtains close and open as the biggest and seemingly most important handle on the old machines were pulled, and pulled again. One by one citizens were swallowed up and then released by the gentle giants, and what happened behind the curtain was known only to the voter, and to the now extinct metal beast.

Just for the record, I live in the last county in Washington State that still lets you vote at a polling place. All other counties have gone to mail-in voting only. I do not like mail-in voting. I do not like it one bit …but soon I will have to adapt, or like the poor fellows above face extinction.