On Shaving Before Voting

Yesterday was election day in my town. We were choosing a mayor, two city councilors, three school board members, and deciding whether to tax ourselves for millions of dollars in improvements to our football and baseball stadiums. I went to the polls sweaty from my morning walk, unshaven, and altogether unkempt. It's been bothering me.

It seemed like a good idea at the time. At 7:30am each morning I drive to a friend's house and we do a two or three mile walk. The polling place is just a few blocks from there and it was easy to stop enroute, before going home to clean up for the day.

Wouldn't you know that as I approach the polling site I spot people I know--a former colleague, a candidate, and a long-time political activist. They're handing out campaign literature and greet me warmly, but surely with concern for my well-being. Used to seeing me with shirt and tie, now in sweats and sneakers, they must be thinking I have descended to the depths since moving into semi-retirement.

But my self-consciousness about running into people I know was worsened by a sense that being unshaven was somehow disrespectful to the electoral process. Silly, I know, but still, I couldn't escape the feeling. There was a balance of power on the city council in play, and I cared about the outcome. There was something unspoken simmering beneath a hotly contested school board race, with implications for kids in our town. And the stadium issue had heavy hitters in the community debating tax priorities, wealthy owners, economic development, and civic pride. And there I stand in the polling booth, sweat on my brow, undoubtedly a bit ripe in the body odor department, and with a scratchy day's growth on my chin. It just wasn't right.

I am grateful for a democracy that allows us all to vote, even if we look scruffy and smell badly. I know it doesn't make a tinker's toot of difference whether we're nattily attired and pleasingly cologned when deciding the fate of our community. But I know how I feel, and that's the thing I have to live with. Next election I promise not to reek, even if the candidates do.

By the way, the returns are in. The council elections had kind of mixed results. Educators sent a message to the school district. And the stadium renovations? Well, the tax increase passed. But it was a close shave.