Re: Have you voted yet? (Oct. 10)

I just finished reading Geraldine Foster’s “Remembering the Past” article about her memories regarding voting.

The story brought back memories of Election Day as I grew up. The year was 1952 or 1953. My parents were adamant about voting, and I accompanied them to the polls. I watched as they voted on those big machines.

We went home and waited to watch the returns on the old black-and-white TV. The polls closed at 9 p.m. Then the results slowly trickled in. Bedtime came. No results were final.  We argued about bedtime. I wanted to stay up to continue watching. They said no. Guess who won?

The next morning Dad went out and purchased The Providence Journal, the morning edition of the ProJo. We read and talked about the results. Some results were heard on WEAN’s Ed Pearson radio show.

Fast forward to the 1980s. I am now married. My daughters went to the polls with my wife. I voted later, after work. Returns were watched on a color TV. As soon as the polls closed, the stations released exit polls declaring the winners with as little as zero percent of the vote counted.

It is now 2014. Votes are counted electronically. Winners are known almost immediately. We watch on cable TV and electronic devices.  By 11 p.m., we have heard all the speeches. Bedtime is here.

Since 2010 I have served as a poll worker.  Here I am able to see parents bringing their children with them to vote.  It gladdens me to see this routine, as Geraldine Foster mentioned, continue.

Please vote in the upcoming election. Give your children this memory so they can pass this democratic right on to the next generation.

Gerald Sherman

Cranston, R.I.