Election Memories

I turned eighteen May 01, 1992. The Presidential Primary election season was already in full swing and I was a senior in high school. I will admit that I was not too involved in politics at that time. I was looking forward to voting in the general election in November 1992.


In the fall of 1992 I was a freshman at Ricks College in Rexburg, ID. Now I grew up in Idaho, but Eastern Idaho and Southwest Idaho are like, well Oregon and Utah. I grew up in as much of an urban area as possible in an agricultural state. Urban enough that I did not see a potato truck until I lived in Rexburg. I lived in an apartment off campus, not the dorms. My five other roommates were all freshmen, like me. I knew one of them before moving in, my friend Dylan McDonald. He and I have been friends since his mom taught me kindergarten.


Growing up my Dad was a teacher and my mother a nurse. Dylan's parents were both teachers. So needless to say we had some mid to left leaning ways in our households. Now that is not that uncommon. In Idaho in 1990 the legislature was split almost 50/50 Democrat and Republican. But in Rexburg things are a bit more red, especially at Ricks College.


Anyway back to the election. Since we were living away from home our parents helped Dylan and I get absentee ballots. So we voted a few days before the election and then mailed in our ballots. Our roommates three from California and one from Kentucky voted locally. They had to register as residents. But that was not a big deal as they were not living with their parents and had moved out. (Idaho did not have same day registration until 1994) So we all voted.


Election night we did what many people did we watched the election results on TV. As the returns came in you could tell with each announcement of a winner how each roommate had voted. In our apartment we were really divided along economic lines. See the roommates from California were from a higher tax bracket then the roommate from Kentucky, Dylan and myself. So as it became clearer and clearer that Bill Clinton was going to win there was a little excitement from us. I remember that at the end of the night we watched MTV as they had a "Rock The Vote" party with many performers and the President-Elect.


This was my first experience voting in a Presidential election. For me it is like a New Year's Day bowl game to see how the election turns out and watch the activity as the returns come in. Even if my candidate does not win it is great to see everyone take part in the democratic process.