Go vote — it'll make you feel good

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

There are inspirational aphorisms on the walls of Salt Lake City's Rose Park Elementary School, designed to provide wind under the wings of the students' better angels.

One of them, printed right above the voting machines set up for election day today, reads, "No matter what accomplishments you have made, someone has helped you."

It speaks to the cynicism of the times (or maybe just in my head) that I read that and thought, "What is this? Some kind of 'you didn't build that' line? Just wait — someone will demand that be covered up."

Under that line of type, this morning I inserted my little electronic card and punched the touchscreen in the appropriate rectangles. And, rather than receive a handful of $20 bills (which is what happens when I perform those moves at an ATM), I received the happy satisfaction that I participated in one of the simplest and most important rituals in our civil society: Voting.

I wasn't alone. The line at 9 a.m. wasn't bad, but there was a bit of a back-up. "At 7 a.m., it was crazy," one pollworker said.

If you haven't voted yet today, please do so. (Polls close in Utah at 8 p.m. Mountain.) It's good for you, good for your country, and especially good at cutting down on that creeping cynicism.

(Also, please follow The Salt Lake Tribune online for all the results — and come back to The Cricket blog for dispatches from viewing parties around Salt Lake City.)