brushfire"This, yes, this, it was always like this." -Stanley Koehler
REFLECTIONS OF AN EMPTY NESTER
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Early the morning of Nov. 8, 2000, my 9-year-old daughter bounded down the basement steps to where I was folding laundry at the dryer. “Who won?” she asked. “Bush or Gore?” Her urgency wasn’t because we discussed politics at the dinner table each night or she was concerned about the country’s future in the hands of one or the other presidential candidate. She was inquiring because in her fourth-grade music class she was learning “The Presidents Song,” in which she sang the presidents in order from George Washington to the present, and she wanted to know how to complete the lyrics. “Neither,” I replied. “Or at least we don’t know yet.” I explained this was a historic moment for our nation and then I finished folding the laundry, she got ready for school and our day went on. We gave little thought to how the events unfolding over the next 45 days would impact our lives going forward. Flash forward to a very different picture in 2020. Twenty years ago, headlines came to us in the morning paper and evening network news shows. My husband and I didn’t have cable TV at the time, nor did we carry the internet in our pockets. Today, not only did news about this historic election arrive 24/7, but technology allowed us to experience events live and in real time. In the three weeks since the election, I watched events unfold, heard people speak, witnessed voting in action and later watched or read recaps in national news I could compare to my own observations. This made me feel like I was a participant in history in the making. And while I didn’t in reality help shape any of these events, I know people — friends, community members, business people and local politicians — who did play a role, from working to get out the vote and volunteering at the polls to speaking up publicly about the importance of protecting the democratic process. My husband’s colleague, who served as a poll watcher in Detroit on election day, described working with a partner from the other party as “very collegial” and the experience in general as “actually kind of boring,” according to his wife. The excitement came the next day during the counting of absentee ballots at the TCF Center when more poll watchers showed up than the rules allowed. Some were there to challenge the counting process taking place. Others were there to protect it. I witnessed the clashing of the two sides in a live stream of protests outside. One group was chanting: “Stop the count!” while others cried out: “Count every vote!” More drama followed during a lengthy Wayne County Board of Canvassers meeting. I logged in early enough to gain access. Meanwhile, proceedings were delayed nearly two hours to accommodate the many people who wanted to attend and as more paperwork — affidavits describing experiences at the TCF Center, from what I gathered — poured in. Public comments followed for several hours after the two Republican members of the board voted against certifying the votes, resulting in a split decision. Later they reversed course in a controversial sequence of events. The Board of State Canvassers meeting nearly a week later was live-streamed. This time I was among more than 20,000 people observing the proceedings. Approximately 500 people signed up to make public comments, including a friend of mine who waited six hours and 47 minutes to have her voice heard. The meeting began at 1 p.m., but the vote didn’t take place until 4:24 p.m. What typically was a routine process — certifying votes across Michigan’s 83 counties — turned into a nail-biter where democracy was on the line and one under-the-radar politician put principles above party in a rare show of courage typically reserved for TV dramas. What did I learn in the process? That election clerks across the state, regardless of party affiliation, take their jobs seriously. That while election reform may be overdue, there’s a difference between human error and fraud. That affidavits aren’t considered evidence unless a court deems them so. That people care deeply about their votes. That our democracy rests on elected and appointed government officials fulfilling their sworn duties and not overstepping their essential functions. That moment the Board of State Canvassers certified Michigan’s votes with three ayes and one abstention marked a tipping point in history, as it was followed within hours by the announcement the president-elect’s formal transition process would commence. For fourth graders learning “The Presidents Song” in 2020, at least now they have their answer and can move forward — as can the rest of us. This appeared in the Dec. 3 edition of the Grosse Pointe News.
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Mary Anne BrushJournalist, fiction writer, wife and mother |