Recorded in Des Moines, Iowa.
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 experiences, cultural traditions, work histories, and thoughts about American democracy. From a grouping of stories, called "Voices and Votes" and democracy in America.
Talk about a memorable election or voting experience.
"I am actually going to tell you a story about my first voting experience. It's really not a voting experience to tell you the truth. I graduated from high school in 1972. That's a big year. Turned 18 and went away to college at Central College in Pella, Iowa, a little conservation Dutch town in Iowa. You know we had tulip time and dressed up in our Dutch costumes. It was a very conservation school, but I can remember that's also the year in 1972 that the voting age decreased, I think it was from 21 down to 18. So, here I was 18 away at school.
At that time, I don't think there was the absentee voting, so I don't actually remember voting, but I remember the night of the voting. And, we all gathered as a little group of college girls--you could only have girls in the dorm at that time, no boys allowed--but we gathered, and I actually baked a cake, and I came across a picture the other day. I don't know if I'm so proud of that picture anymore because the cake said, "Nixon." It had a big flag on it. So, we all gathered round, and we were so excited that we actually had a voice, and we COULD vote, even if we didn't."
Asset ID: 8374
