As the 2024 election draws near, I am reminded of the excitement
surrounding election day as a child growing up in Louisiana. Everyone looked forward to it and, as I recall, no one was influenced by the expression, “Never talk about politics and religion in polite company.”
It seemed that politics was something everyone talked about, and “colorful” candidates only added to the element of eccentricity surrounding many of the conversations.
My favorite part of that special day was the election night party that commenced after the polls officially closed. In my world, polling places were conveniently scattered around the parish to make it easy for people to find a close-by site to cast their votes. However, the process of making election results available to the public did not move at the lightning speed we are used to today. Instead, once the polls closed, ballots were tallied and the results for that location were fastened to the front door for anyone to see.
That’s where what I would call “runners” came into play. These people were assigned to go to a particular polling place and write down the number of votes each candidate had received. For example, my mother was supposed to go to the Catholic Hall to record the numbers posted at that location and bring them to the election night party. She herded us kids into the car, and we took off to the designated polling location where she carefully recorded the voting results
hanging on the door. Finally, we reached the party at our friends’ house that was full of adults, kids and a spread of food that seemed to go on forever.
Dad and some of our other farmer friends showed up a little later since harvest was typically in full swing that time of year before earlier maturing cotton and soybean varieties came on the scene. As the evening wore on, the adults gathered around the kitchen table and poured over a pile of election numbers, while we kids ate, played and enjoyed the freedom of staying up late on a school night. Later on, as television announcers began reporting numbers that had come into the station, everyone still knew it was not unusual if an election wasn’t called until the next morning.
Although we now live in an age of instant gratification — including quickly learning who our new officials will be — I still miss witnessing the teamwork and camaraderie that were an integral part of yesteryear’s election days.
However, the one constant that remains the same — past or present — is that voting is a privilege. With that in mind, be sure to cast your ballot this year and perhaps throw an old-school election night party where everyone is allowed to go off script and even talk about politics to keep things lively!