The visitor’s center clock tower is one of the few remaining structures in Forest Park that dates from the 1904 Worlds Fair. At that time the tower was attached to a train station that is long since gone. At the beginning of the 20th-century Forest Park was out in the country. If you had a horse and buggy you could drive there, but most people took the trollies. Clang, clang, clang went the trolley…

Changing trains of thought here, I’ve voted. Have you? Everyone in our family has voted. Have you? The news is reporting record early voting this election. Leading experts to predict that this election will see a record total turnout:

The high level of early voting has led Michael McDonald, the University of Florida professor who administers the U.S. Elections Project, to predict a record U.S. voter turnout of about 150 million, representing 65% of those eligible to vote, the highest rate since 1908.

This amount of voter enthusiasm is heartening. Especially so, since this higher than normal turnout has occurred in the face of numerous voter suppression techniques, such as voter roll purges, the demand for showing state IDs and this election’s long, long lines that try the patience of even the most dedicated of citizens. These voter suppression methods have been around for a while. This time they have backfired. Nothing motivates people more than saying you can’t.

New Yorker cartoon’s caption: “I had to wait three years, eleven months, twenty days, thirteen hours, and fifty-three minutes to vote.”

In 1908 there were 89 million Americans. Now there are more than 330 million. In 1908 less than half of today’s electorate was eligible to vote. Women could not vote, nor could many minorities. Our country has come a long way in the intervening years and I believe that it has a long way yet to go. So, vote!