Reflections on elections: some reminiscences
This is the seventh US Presidential election in which I’ve been an eligible voter. Regardless of the result, these are always raucous occasions. It all started in… 1994 : this was the first election where I was eligible to vote. I’d just turned 18 and was in my first semester at university. But for the life of me, I truly cannot remember whether I even voted, much to my shame. I think I did, but…I honestly can’t say. But it was all a bit anti-climactic for me anyway. Whether I voted or not, my first election wasn’t a Presidential one – it was merely the mid-term election, or for my non-American readers, the equivalent of a parliamentary election. Turnout at these is usually much lower. 1996 : the first time I can vote in an election, but I wasn’t even in the US to do so. I was studying abroad in London for the semester and voted by absentee ballot. And this was the start of a tradition of sorts, staying up all night because of the time difference. The election wasn’t close, so we knew ...