Election Day (COVID Cards are always drawn the day before they are posted) is a day filled with history and meaning. As a white person, and a girl who was born well after the 19th amendment was ratified and told by her parents that there was no limit to what she could do, I’ve been entirely shielded from any sort of discrimination when it comes to voting. My experience as a voter in the US has been pretty idyllic.

I have childhood memories of my parents voting. I believe they voted at the elementary school that was two blocks from our house (but I could be wrong). If that’s the case, my home town of Greenville, Michigan must have had a lot of polling places. That would have been in the 1970s. Election day was sacred to my parents. Voting was our civic duty. It was the most important thing we could do as Americans.

My dad was a lifelong Republican and had no issues telling anyone who he voted for. I once asked my mom who she voted for and she told me it was none of my business. Even as a kid, I figured that meant she voted the opposite of my dad.

As I grew older and formed my own opinions, my dad and I rarely agreed on political issues. He once asked me how I became a “bleeding heart liberal.” I told him that someone taught me to think for myself. I will never forget the grin that put on his face. That I thought for myself and could express my views with clarity was so much more important to him than whether we agreed on issues. We both loved our country and (most of, in Dad’s case) our fellow Americans and, ultimately, that is what mattered.

Today’s card is not about the postal service (unless you consider that my dad was a letter carrier for over 30 years), it’s about something that we all have in common(ish). The card is divided into three sections. The section on the left (no conscious hidden intention or symbolism in that placement) contains a fairly quaint and happy landscape. This represents what democratic and republican voters expect if “their” candidate wins. The section on the right (again, I didn’t intend any deeper meaning to the placement) contains a sort of stark, barren landscape, representing what democratic and republican voters expect if “their” candidate loses. The section in the center (no hidden meaning) contains a recurring (in COVID Cards) landscape. This represents what everyone else (non-voters and third party voters) expect no matter what: the same old stuff.