I remember my first time.
It was in 1990 and Republican William Weld was running for governor of Massachusetts.
His opponent, Democrat John Silber (then President of the Boston University), was infamous for one thing — his language — he reportedly refused to campaign in Roxbury, a traditional black neighborhood referring to its residents as “drug addicts,” referred to Jews as racists, that it was a senior citizen’s “time to go . . . when they were ripe,” and said that single mothers contributed to child abuse and neglect.
So after years of making those November phone calls on cold Connecticut nights urging people to go to the polls and vote the party line — before they removed the ‘party lever’ from the voting booth, that is — and to let us know if they needed a ride to vote Democratic, of course — I voted Republican.
All my life Republicans were vilified, and here I was scratching out my absentee ballot — for William Weld.
Before that day in October, I had never considered voting for a Republican. After that, my party affiliation became much more blurry. I changed my registration from Democrat to Independent. I realized that I could vote for the person whose ideas I supported and I wasn t required by peer pressure, by tradition, by rote — to vote for the Democrat.
Although I strongly believe voting is secret — I’ll tell you, I’ve swayed all over the map — from the Green Party at the ‘progressive’ end to the other end of the spectrum. My latest — voting for our current governor — Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Although, I generally can’t vote in primary elections, my independence has been worth it.
