As a resident of Claremont, I can vote in person at any Vote Center in Los Angeles County, near or far. Theoretically, this could mean Catalina Island or Saugus, maybe with a picnic lunch or an overnight bag, but let’s not get carried away. Claremont or Pomona is fine.
Big elections, though, call for something more grand. Four years ago, that meant Bunker Hill’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, which is on L.A.
’s Grand Avenue. My vote for president was cast under a chandelier . That seemed suitably momentous.
This time the election also saw me back on Grand Avenue. I voted at the Chandler’s Music Center neighbor, the Ahmanson Theatre. I liked the setting’s symbolism.
The presidential election has had high drama, reversals of fortune, a gun going off, the surprise entrance of a new lead character (a woman!), confrontation, music and dancing, over-the-top dialogue, garbled line readings, improvisation and comedy, or at least farce. If Campaign ’24 were on stage at the Ahmanson, would any audience believe it? Now, obviously I could have voted at home and mailed in my ballot or dropped it off. That would have been more efficient.
Call me old-fashioned, but I like voting in person. My friend Stephanie does too. She votes on Election Day and brings her two kids, ages 10 and 13, so they can witness.
The trappings have changed. There’s no curtain around the booth. There’s not even a booth.
But showing up is part of a great tradition. Participating makes me feel American. An.
