This snapshot was gathered in conjunction with the Museum on Main Street program at the Smithsonian Institution and its "Stories from Main Street" initiative. The project is intended to capture Americans' impressions and stories about their small-town and rural neighborhoods, waterways, personal memories, cultural traditions, work histories, and thoughts about American democracy. This story is from a group of narratives inspired by the Smithsonian traveling exhibition, "Voices and Votes: Democracy in America."
K. Severson (00:01): Most unforgettable one was in Vietnam. I was on a search and rescue boat, and I also got the mail and I distributed the mail in the mess deck and there was this large envelope for myself, and it was a right in absentee ballot. And all the sailors with me were dumbstruck. They just couldn't figure out why anybody would care to vote. And I said, here we are. We're over here trying to bring democracy to these people and you won't, you're not even willing to practice it when you have the opportunity, but you do have to send for it.
(00:49): And so they gathered around, I spread out this big (laughs) fold out sheet, and it was very large. It was bigger than our table they had to eat on. And I went through and marked this. This was a midterm election in 1970. And I folded it back up and even our two officers didn't vote, but they were interested in the process. And I sealed it up. They stamped it, and we sent it off.
Asset ID: 2023.04.01.b
Photo Credit: Photograph 127-N-A371411; Vietnam....'Home is where you dig' was the sign over the fighting bunker of Private First Class Edward, Private First Class Falls and Private First Class Morgan of the 1st Battalion, 7th Regiment, during Operation Worth; 1968; General Photograph File of the U.S. Marine Corps, 1927 - 1981; Records of the U.S. Marine Corps, Record Group 127; National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD.
