Don't forget to vote today - Kathy Jefcoats

If you are reading this, I hope you have already voted or plan to today. While some kids eagerly await turning old enough to drive or drink alcohol legally, I counted the days until I could register to vote. When I saw an episode of "Family Ties" where someone made fun of Alex Keaton for creating a fake ID not to sneak into a club or buy alcohol but so he could vote, I laughed because that could have been me. I remember my mother driving me to the Board of Elections office in Bibb County when I was 17 and a half so I could register to vote as soon as I turned 18. My birthday is in October, a month before November primaries, so I wanted to be ready.

Actually, my first presidential election would not come for two more years when I proudly cast my ballot for Ronald Reagan. As a child, growing up under the specter of Watergate, I vowed that I would not be a Republican like the shamed and humiliated Nixon. As I just wrote that, I realized that most kids my age didn't know the difference between the parties – just another example of how I was born old.