Democracy in action

The Obama camp sends me emails every day. At this point, I consider them research for my work. Emily obsessively orders stickers and magnets from Teens for Obama. They're everywhere. My mom sends an email the morning of the debate saying she hopes Romney "screws up."

Ali helps hand out buttons for her friend's dad before the high school football game. He's running for State Representative. I look him up. He's a republican, fiscally and socially conservative. We talk about how everyone's entitled to their own point of view, but that she might want to refrain from talking about politics at their house. She says "I know mom, I'm not stupid."

Frank votes practically the moment the ballots arrive, then helpfully lets me know that he's left it unsealed in case I needed to check out how he voted.

I choose a quiet moment to sit on the floor of the living room and vote. All on my own. It's handy to be able to vote from home on a Sunday afternoon. Yet it doesn't feel quite as exceptional as it used to when we went to the local church, got our ballots from the senior citizen volunteers, and voted in the little booth next to our neighbors.

And there still aren't very many women's names on the ballot again this year.