First Vote

My brother Patrick voted tonight for the first time in his life! He's 41 years old, has a developmental disability and never had any real interest in politics.

But this year he's paid a little bit of attention. When I took him a few months ago to get his photo identification card, the woman at the Registry of Motor Vehicles asked him if he wanted to register to vote. He said yes, even though I had asked him a day before we went - he told me NO.

So he registered and a few days later he got a voter card for Michael (his twin brother who lives in another city.) I called Nancy down at the town clerk's office and she had no idea how that happened. The only thing Patrick and Michael have in common besides their last name is their birthdate. So a few days later Patrick got another voter card for Michael. I called Nancy at the town clerk's office again and she asked me to give her a few days.

Sure enough, three days later Nancy called me and said everything was okay. Patrick should (and did) get the correct voter card. I called Michael and told him that he should confirm that he was still registered in his city (he was!)

Patrick was undecided about who he was going to vote for President - I reminded him of President Idiot's last 8 years. I showed Patrick the booklet and described to him what he would need to do. When we got to the school, I greeted the folks that were working there earlier when I voted. I walked Patrick through what he would need to do and one young guy who helped me earlier in the day took several minutes to explain to Patrick what he needed to do.

Patrick voted - for Obama, I'm happy to say - and we were home in less that 30 minutes from when we left.