Anyone else taking their children with them tomorrow while they vote?

[catz]

What!? Is it rude and random comment week or something? The comment about the weather in the morning has me :lol:. Some kids are out early waiting for buses or getting dropped off at day care. The horror! ;)

 

I always take my kids to the polls, and yep, they'll be tag-a-longs tomorrow. As a matter of fact, they have kids vote tables in our state for after school hours and kids can cast their own ballots for fun.

[Word Nerd]

I voted last week, but I took my older DD when she was around that age and it was no trouble. The poll worker gave her a sticker too.

[happypamama]

What is this "pushing buttons" thing y'all speak of? LOL! Our little township still has paper ballots with little bubbles to fill in.

 

(I'm kidding; I do know what the buttons are. I have voted for President once with the screens, and once with the voting machine thingy. And once absentee. But as of tomorrow, it'll be twice with the little bubbles.)

[Hockey Mom]

I have always taken my children with me. I really believe that it's our obligation to take them. My DD has voted in every election since she turned 18, and she tells me it's because I always "pounded it into her head" how important it was to vote.

 

We will go to the polls in the morning, then the boys and I will hold our own election at home tomorrow. On the ballot? Chocolate chip cookies vs. Nutter Butters. Results for our election will be announced at 3pm tomorrow. :)

[Ruby Rose]

I took my kids last presidential election and dd was only 3 and I did give her a civics lesson. Lol! They went with me to the local elections this year and they will go with me to vote tomorrow and we WILL talk about what we are doing and why.

[PinkInTheBlue]

I have taken my guys with me many (every?) times I have gone to vote including taking all 3 this past June. I think I would prefer to leave them at the house tomorrow afternoon though. I expect it to possibly be a long wait and I want to concentrate on all our amendments we have locally as well.

 

Also, we've talked politics to death with the guys for months. Honestly, I'm beyond ready to be done with it. :) They get it.

[In the Rain]

Dh and I each took the girls for early voting. They were made to hold their hands up and take an oath promising not to touch the screen. :lol:

[Jpoy85]

DH gets 2 paid hours off work so i can vote, so nope the kids will stay with him! Hes not voting. :glare:

[JoLuRu]

Yes, I've always taken the kids. They proudly wear their "I Voted!" stickers for the rest of the day.

 

DS's cub scouts voted at their pack meeting the other night. Super cute! Now he's very excited to go with us tomorrow.

[Element]

Yes, and we are geeking out around here about tomorrow! I've already given the kids a crash course in the electoral college and I'm going to let them stay up late (they'll probably crash around 11 PM) to watch the results come in. Most everyone I know has already voted (including dh) but I wanted the kids to see the "real deal" so I'm waiting until tomorrow. Who knows? By the time they can vote, the whole thing might be online, mail-in, or something else so I want them to see how their parents and grandparents voted: In the booth, with a felt-tip marker, come out and say "hi" to the neighbors, get your free refreshment and sticker, and go. :lol:

[MrsBanjoClown]

I voted early and I took both of my kids with me.

[mamajag]

I always take mine (8, 6, and 3) with me to vote. Poll workers let them go back with me and they ask all sorts of questions about the machine and why we're there. They see that we take time out of our day to do it, and that makes more of an impression on them than a civics lesson on voting.

 

DS 3 is so not impressed and just wants the sticker.

[kubiac]

I already voted by mail (the county offers us the option to be "permanent absentee" voters--they send ballots by mail until you fail to return three successive ballots), but we're totally going to walk over to the neighborhood polling place tomorrow and watch the excitement for a little while. I doubt my 2.5 year old will get it, but maybe we'll learn some new vocabulary words.

 

And I hadn't even thought of the fact that there might be stickers. We love stickers! :)

[LucyStoner]

We are in an all mail in state- no more polling places. My son sat with me at the kitchen table and discussed each issue and canidate on the ballot as I was voting.

[KrissiK]

Weeeeeelllll....... No! They are the reason I became an permanent absentee voter.:001_smile:

[scrappyhappymama]

I'm taking mine. The poll workers have always loved seeing kids with their parents in my experience.

 

This has been my experience as well. My kids have always gone with me or my husband and go in the booth and see how it works. Poll workers have never given us the stink eye. On the contrary, they all are pleasant and encouraging, especially at primaries and midterm elections.

 

My boys were excited to go vote with us last week when we voted early. In fact my eight year old was so enthusiastic that he made a sign that said "Vote for {Presidential Candidate's name}!" He planned to bring it in the polling place and I am sure that a little song and possibly a dance would have accompanied it, so we had to explain the no campaigning within 200 yards rule. :lol:

 

We plan to watch the returns tomorrow night and color in our Electoral College map and debate the EC vs the popular vote.

[Sara in AZ]

Goodness, mine go everywhere with me. The poll workers are always really friendly to them.

[Heather in Neverland]

I ALWAYS took my kids when we were in the states. I think it is important for them to see it in action.

[Pawz4me]

I've already voted, and yes my son went with me like he always does. Oldest DS also went every time I voted when he was being homeschooled.

[elegantlion]

I usually take ds, even though he's old enough to stay home. This year I won't because dh and I are going to vote early. Waking him up at 6 a.m. is not a good idea, especially since we're on break and I'm not sure what time he WENT to bed.

[twinmami01]

We take our kids each.and.every.time. Nothing wired about it. As far as they won't learn anything, yeah ok. My kids are 11 and have always gone with us. The poll workers even know them by name and we don't even live in a small town. :lol:

[ashfern]

I always take mine. At one polling location they had coloring pages & crayons. It was hard getting my kids to leave when we were done voting. :lol: We are always reminded that the kids aren't allowed to touch the machines. :tongue_smilie:

[Angie in VA]

I usually do, but DH and I went early this morning before he went to work. I take any "date" w/ Dh that I can get. :)

 

Angie

who grew up in a house where voting was not just a privilege, but also a duty!

[Soror]

Usually we take the kids and take turns going in while the other sits in the car. It is a very small place, think 3 boxes, and doesn't generally take more than 5 minutes. I'm considering if I should go early today by myself in case I'm in labor this evening- I don't want to miss voting and who knows these days!

[Luckymama]

My parents always took us to vote with them, and I've never missed an election since 1984 :) We take our kids with us when they are able to go---------ds will be voting for the first time and wants to meet us at the polling station!

[Jenny in Florida]

I've usually taken mine over the years. I did early voting last Friday, and there were plenty of folks with kids in the very long line.

[Guest inoubliable]

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[lakerks]

I've almost always taken my kids with me to the polls. It seems quite normal to me to take them with me on errands, etc.

[Mary in VA]

As a military family we voted absentee for many years. I would have loved to take my dds to the poll with me! I'm so excited because in a few minutes I am taking my youngest with me and she is voting for the first time!

 

Mary

[didadeewiththree]

I hope I'm not hijacking the thread here but I am bringing my kids for the first time with me to go vote; what is the best time of day to go do this?

 

I was thinking it was probably crowded early and in the evening with people trying to go before or after work, but I'm unsure.

 

I just don't want to wait forever in line with a couple of kiddos.

[TravelingChris]

Well I was going to leave my youngest at home but I have decided I will take the kids out to breakfast after voting so she is coming with us.

 

Like HockeyMom said, I think one reason my kids always vote is because they always either voting with me or saw dh and I discussing ballots and voting in our home with absentee ballots.

[momacacia]

DH already took the girls by to see how long the line was. Not bad I'm told. He'll go vote in a while with just them or all of us. He's trying to explain the electoral college to 8yo---poor thing might learn something. ;)

[Puma Mom]

This will be the first election in a while that I haven't taken my dd to. When she was little, she would come with me in the booth so I could show her what it was all about. I don't remember taking by dss as much, probably because they weren't as patient waiting in line. I will be taking ds19 with me for his first voting experience! Ds22 is voting with his girlfriend.

[Guest inoubliable]

 

[Meriwether]

I've always taken the kids. I may only have the youngest two this time since I'll be voting in the same town the older two are testing at today. I've never been more than 5-6 people back in a line. Small towns = short lines.:001_smile:

[Nestof3]

We took our eldest one year when he was studying elections in the third grade -- they even held a mock election. That was his last year of public school. I was turned off by the fact that I couldn't show him how the actual machine worked. We were strongly rebuked saying it was against regulations to allow anyone to stand next to you when voting. FWIW, the people working there seem to be on serious power trips. Once, my husband and I walked up to the person checking IDs at the same time, and we got rebuked strongly. It seems like election day for some people is all about the day they get to shine as authority figures.

 

Just going in the building creeps me out a little as it's the elementary school our eldest went to when we stopped homeschooling him. It brings back memories of horrid talent shows, wretched teaching to the tests (in social studies, most of the kids failed a test on VA government, so the teacher sent home the exact test, told them to study it and retake it the next day), and other things we were happy to flee from.

 

Edited to add: I'm starting to feel like I live in a very control-freak neighborhood. I cannot believe how many of you are allowed to have your children with you.

Edited November 6, 2012 by nestof3

[Nestof3]

My parents always took us to vote with them, and I've never missed an election since 1984 :) We take our kids with us when they are able to go---------ds will be voting for the first time and wants to meet us at the polling station!

 

That is very sweet. Our eldest is voting for the first time as well, but we barely talk anymore. :tongue_smilie:

[plath]

I will be heading out shortly with my two kids!

[JFJ in IL]

I always bring my kids with me and no one has ever given me strange looks.

Now that was before I had school aged children...so I suspect I may get a few remarks regarding the fact that they are not in school today :001_smile:

Looking forward to it, though, I can't wait to vote!

[Cinder]

Another vote for taking the kids! All of ours have gone with us; not everytime but whenever it was reasonable to do so. The poll workers have never said anything negative. They don't seem to mind having the dc there.

 

The only "bad" experience I had (and it really wasn't a bad experience at all) was when my mom took me with her. I was about 11 or 12yo. The voting booths had a curtain in front and I went in with her. The worker saw two sets of legs in the booth; she hadn't seen me go in with Mom. At that age I was as big as Mom, so the worker thought another adult was in the booth, which isn't allowed, and she came over to check. Once she saw I was a kid everything was fine.

[Stayseeliz]

I always take my kids to vote. I think it's important for them to see what goes on. They enjoy going and would be disappointed if I didn't take them. Of course my then 3yo barfed all over the floor right behind me when I was voting two years ago. That was fun! We ended up all coming down with a virus. But the poll workers were so sweet. One of them told me to finish my voting and she took DD to the bathroom to clean her up! :)

[duckabell]

My DH and I took our children voting with us this morning. We share a car and so it made the most sense to go together; plus neither of us would want to go with three children. We were lucky in that our polling place was a fire station and the kids got fire hats. My daughter was disappointed that they didn't get to ride in the fire trucks. I realized after we left that none of us got stickers.

 

Overall my kids were really well-behaved and people seemed to be impressed that we brought our children, including our five-week-old. We were in line for about 35 minutes but overall it wasn't too bad. I'm glad that our kids got to see us vote and know that voting is important to us.

[mirth]

I think it's a great idea and I've even counted that as our citizenship portion on the quarterly reports for homeschooling.

 

It can also count as part of the requirements for the Citizenship pin in Cub Scouts.

[TranquilMind]

DH and I were planning on taking our youngest with us tomorrow while we vote. We have to go early in the morning and even though DS12 and DS7 will be awake and *could* watch DS5 for a little while, we have no idea how long the line will be first thing in the morning or how long we'll be there. We just figured we'd take him with us to ease our minds.

 

One of our neighbors remarked, "Oh, that's nice, but you know he won't actually learn anything...". Um. You don't say. It'll be the crack of dawn. I wasn't going to launch into a civics lesson with my five year old at that particular moment...

 

And another neighbor told me that I was "insane" to take him out that early and in the cold. Uh... he's not very fragile. I fail to understand why I shouldn't take him out early in the morning...

 

Am I missing something here? Is there some etiquette rule that I'm breaking and these ladies were trying to gently nudge me into doing the right thing? :confused:

Absolutely. Libertarian all the way. I need SOME company, so my kid is coming. It was more fun when we went in the little booth with the curtain than today, just filling out circles and submitting.

[Donna]

My dd went with dh this morning and with me about 2 hours ago.

[Melinda S in TX]

We were strongly rebuked saying it was against regulations to allow anyone to stand next to you when voting.

 

 

 

This happened to us too. I took the children with me when I went to vote this afternoon. Everyone in line was friendly and visiting with the the children, and the man at the door gave them all stickers. The ladies who checked my card were friendly to them. I went to one of the tables and had about halfway filled out my ballot when a lady came up and ordered them from the room. She said if they weren't voting, they couldn't be in there. She wasn't nice at all.