On Election Day, Americans find themselves voting in a wide variety of locations. Church annexes. Courthouses. Public halls.
Most of the time, the polling centers are located near large municipalities in more modern, up-to-date facilities.
But in Trigg County, one such polling place — the Cerulean Fire Department — is a step back in time.
This past November 8, more than 300 voters streamed in the small-frame building with its dusty floors, paneled walls, rickety tables and aged appliances, hoping their decision was the right one.
Poll workers in Jan Lawrence, Sally Mateja, Angela Coroy and others found themselves borderline inundated at times — at one point setting up extra voting blinders, so citizens could have some privacy while making their choices.
Rifling through ballots, Mateja said she’d been amazed by the revolving door.
Cerulean has long served as a strong voting sector of Trigg County, and this time around was no different. More than 200 locals had cast their ballots by 2 PM, with Roaring Spring-ans and Wallonians also stopping in for their civic duty.
In serving Trigg County’s Election Board as a Republican representative, Carl Heckmann had to bring more ballots later in the afternoon.
Mateja noted it was a sign of an engaged community, and one that didn’t care how fancy the voting center was.
Lawrence and Mateja quaintly remembered a time in Trigg County where, being near Hilltop Market and US 68/80, had to vote in an old, well-worn and oft-used body shop.
It didn’t matter. They, and many others, still voted.
Come to find out, it was Berkley’s Body Shop. But the point remains. It isn’t where one votes, but if they vote, that matters most.
