That First Election

That first election. 

The year was 1976 and I was a junior at NTSU, now known as UNT in Denton. Jimmy Carter was running against Ford that election.  

At the time I did not own a car, and was basically stranded in Denton. This was long before early voting, and I'm sure I knew nothing about absentee voting at the time. All I knew for sure was that I had to vote in my first presidential election. 

My family had been life-long Democrats and my mother had been glued to the television during the Watergate investigation. Her disdain for Nixon was palpable, and our kitchen door had been adorned with a tricky Dick poster for quite a while. I doubt most of my peers ate dinner with the glaring eyes of Richard Nixon over their shoulder. 

At the time my college boyfriend was attending UTA in Arlington, but he really was a trooper. That Election Day he drove from Arlington to Denton to take me to Dallas to vote, and then back to Denton before driving home to Arlington. I have to give him full credit for helping me fulfill my civic duty. 

Now to be honest my politics have changed over the years, but I still look forward to the presidential election. Luckily voting is just around the corner now.