It’s Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2016, and the sun is rising over the bike path in my back yard.
I’ve had my first cup of coffee and fed the stray calico kitty who now lives on our deck. (Because we are clever we have named her “Deck Kitty.”)
I haven’t yet cast my ballot for oatmeal or scrambled eggs, but there will be a winner. Oatmeal is pulling ahead in the polls because it comes with the promise of brown sugar and walnuts. I have already voted “yes” for real cream in my coffee and “no” on the sugar.
As I contemplate my plans for the day, lyrics from a song in the musical “Annie” drift through my mind: “The sun will come out tomorrow. Bet your bottom dollar …” Today radio and TV reporters will report, pollsters will poll, journalists will journal and the rest of us will do whatever it is we usually do — perhaps rake the leaves again.
And we will vote.
We vote in great numbers here because we believe in the process. Today we will elect state senators and representatives, school board members, city council members and county commissioners.
But, most importantly, this year quite likely history will be made as … in Luverne, we will have the opportunity to vote for or against the right of restaurant owners to sell alcohol on Sunday.
I’m not a card-carrying member of the Beer Party, but I am German so I’ll be voting “yes” on that one.
Some results are already in. The Steen voting station menu, for example, has already been decided.
Sunday at church I overheard two election judges from Steen plan the polling station menu. It will include potato soup and pumpkin bars. Sandwiches or meat balls were still undecided. (It is illegal to “bribe” voters with food. The food in the Steen polling station is strictly for the election judges and is kept in the kitchen, but they might give you the recipe if you ask.)
There is a lot riding on this year’s election. But, really, I suppose there is a lot riding on every year’s election. A nation or a state or a city or a school board doesn’t suddenly arrive at a certain destination. Everything is a process. The leaders we elect today are the culmination of many previous elections.
Regardless of the outcome of today’s elections, as a Christian I will follow the admonition of 1 Timothy 2:1-2 “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.”
And I’m not going to fret about who wins. After all …
“… the sun will come out tomorrow. Bet your bottom dollar.”