Election Day 2020
Mail-in ballots, early in-person voting, and now, at last, Election Day—there's never been as many ways to make your voice heard! While we wait for results, we want to thank voters for turning out through unprecedented circumstances, in unprecedented numbers! We owe huge gratitude to the people who have made the election run: the poll workers, election officials, election observers, postal workers, and volunteers. Thank you for all your dedicated work to power our elections this year.
100 years ago, the 19th Amendment was ratified, the League of Women Voters formed to help inform the new voters, and 4 years ago, in the wake of the last presidential election, this local League organized. Then, we used the metaphor of a relay, of passing the baton, to describe the momentary rest we all need after great effort.
Thinking about votes, and voices, a different analogy comes to mind today, alternatively referred to as the "Staggered Breathing Analogy," or the "Parable of the Choir":
Sometimes in choir, the music requires singers to hold a note longer than they actually can hold a note. The singers stagger their breathing, so there is never an interruption, simply one long seamless beautiful melody.
We aren’t doing this work alone. We’re a community, each contributing what we can. 9 months into a pandemic, you've done amazing things, and it's okay to take a breath. Sometimes you have to take a longer pause than you would like and you miss singing a note you wanted to sing. But the choir sings on, ready and waiting for you to add your voice.
Every election, we get the chance to shape our democracy with our vote. Even through the stresses that 2020 has brought, we encourage you to take a moment to pause and celebrate. Thank you!
