Displays of greatness on Election Day

Here are three things that left me mightily impressed as an election judge on Nov. 6.

Six hundred and fifty voters in one small precinct of Will County brought their completed ballots to the machine I was manning as an election judge. I was to make certain their votes were properly fed into the device to be recorded and counted. Though I was careful to look away so as not to see their preferences, they seemed unconcerned whether I noticed or not. To be sure, all but a handful refused the opportunity to have their selections kept secret with a cardboard sleeve. That those voters had little concern over a stranger knowing how they voted or, more significantly, that it might affect them personally or professionally was something that left me grateful for our democracy.

There was a great diversity of voters representing different beliefs, cultures, nationalities, demographics and, equally important, generations. Their state of dress included everything from smartly cut business suits to baggy sweats and sagging jeans. Outside that polling place, I may have unfairly judged those individuals based on their appearances. Inside, however, I could only judge them on their actions, as Americans. Lesson learned.

Four local high school students had been selected, based on their scholastic performance, to assist us. None were old enough to vote. But they learned firsthand the process of voting in America, everything from how voters were qualified, to how they were registered and how they cast their ballots. In what other country, I wondered, would a civics lesson come so alive?

If ever you feel the need to make America great again, I urge you to work at a polling place. I'm pretty sure you'll find that part of America is already great.

And holding its own.

Jim Dudas

Naperville