That's what she said.
Excuse me?" I was sure I heard that incorrectly.
"No, I mean I can vote. I'm a citizen, but I don't follow politics, so I don't have the right to vote." She's a good student. Shows up every class, prepared, enters into class discussions. She's a great student to have in your class, so I couldn't understand why she thought she didn't have the brains to vote.
"Where ....Who told you you don't have the right to vote? You can go to the polls yourself...."
She interrupted me, "You don't understand when I was 18 my grandparents sat me down and had me sign my voter registration form. They filled it out and I signed it. Since then, they request absentee ballots for me and the rest of my family for every election. My grandmother fills it out and has me sign it. She puts the ballots in the mail and it's done that way every election."
My face must have been a picture, because she quickly went on.
"You don't understand! That's how it's done! You aren't Cuban. That's the way we do it!" Her body language was pleading with me to understand. It was after class, late at night and she usually waits for me so we walk down to the parking lot together.
I slowly put my books and markers in my bag, gathering my thoughts, "You aren't all Cubans. You are one caring, sharing Cuban who knows her own mind. You don't need any body's permission to cast your vote. You most certainly have the right to fill out your own ballot." I should have said that I doubted all Cubans voted this way, but didn't. I think I was a bit rattled.
She earnestly wanted me to understand, "You don't get it. If I take my ballot out of the stack and fill it out on my own it will upset my grandma to the point that ....Well, I don't want to do that."
I was getting an unasked for tutorial in how to conduct absentee ballot fraud in Miami. "The stack? I thought you lived with your mother and grandparents."
She looked a little uncomfortable. "Yeah, well she also gets ballots for a few of her friends who don't care to fill out their own ballot. She takes care of it for them."
I'm thinking, holy moly I gotta try and stop this. "Look what you are describing can get your grandmother into a lot of legal trouble. You need to vote your own ballot if only to keep her out of jail. Besides, what's she going to do? Disown you? Kick you out of your home? You're her primary care giver for Pete's Sake! You vote your own mind."
She shook her head as we walked toward the stairs. "And, no one is going to turn her in. Nobody believes she's doing anything illegal. Besides, you don't have a Cuban family. There's ways to make you pay if you don't do what the family says. "
I rolled my eyes. She obviously doesn't know much about Irish families...(all snark aside).. "Listen emotional abuse is by no means limited to Cuban families. It's an equal opportunity thing.... It's about power."
"I'm not abused! Why would you say that!"
I went too far, but didn't stop. Still, I thought I'd try to appeal to reason. "Ok, ok, I get it; but you have to look at what you're telling me. You say you don't have the right to vote, because your grandmother says so. I tell you you do have the right to vote your own ballot and you tell me that your grandmother will make you miserable if you exercise that right. So, to keep the family peace you let your grandmother vote your ballot for you. Does that pretty much sum up what you're telling me?"
She shrugged, "I wouldn't say make me miserable....exactly, but she just goes on an on. The last time I said I would fill it out my self she carried on about me not trusting her and that I thought she wasn't doing it right." She looked right at me and said, "I vote just like the rest of my family. It's not like I don't agree with them, but .....Grandma says that I can vote my own ballot when she's gone."
I'm thinking.....geeee juz! "Ahhh, yeah, you need to forgive me for labeling that behavior as emotional abuse, because it kinda fits the text book definition of emotional abuse. Just saying, but look; you vote the way you see fit. You don't need anyone's permission on how to vote."
"Yeah, well, I gotta go. See you tomorrow." And, she left me standing in the parking lot shaking my head.
I stood there wondering how many families vote like that in Miami-Dade County. The Miami Herald down played the idea of absentee ballots tipping an election, but if my student is only the tip of the iceberg; The Miami Herald has their head in the sand.
I stood there long enough for the security guard walk up to me to see if I was ok. We're friendly, we talked as he walked me to my car. I recounted what my student told me.
He laughed! "You don't understand! That's just how we do things!""
I inwardly groaned. Here we go again with a similar conversation.
The Miami Herald clearly doesn't want to investigate the depth and breadth of absentee ballot fraud going on in their front yard. It's happening in numbers that can and does change elections.