What's this National Service talk?

[W2R]

I've voted in every election since I was old enough, too, and in nearly 30 years I've never had to go to the polls. Never. Absentee ballots make the process much easier and much more likely to attract more participants. It's also a great way to spend an hour or two discussing politics with your kids while you sit around filling out the ballot.

Yes, but there is an almost communal feeling of activism as you stand in line at the polls with your neighbors; a feeling that together, we are actively participating in the process and doing something to better the country, on the same day as the rest of America is doing the same thing. It is hard to describe but personally I like going down there to vote. Besides, I get to know and/or greet some of my neighbors that way.

I suppose it would be easier to submit an absentee ballot; after all, I take a "cheat sheet" of my choices with me to the polls, so that I won't make a mistake, so I could just as easily submit it from home. But I just like going to the polls.

We have the electronic voting machines now, and when you push that final button to submit your vote, it sounds almost like the jingle when you win at a slot machine. Very Pavlovian.