Columbus family shares election ritual
Ava Davis may have had pancakes on her mind Tuesday as she walked to the polls, but the 8-year-old knows voting is serious business.
“It means a lot to my family to vote,” said Davis, who was accompanied by her mother, Sarah Stout, and was promised a special breakfast afterward.
Fulfilling their civic duty on Election Day has doubled as a bonding ritual for the last three presidential elections; Stout brought Ava with her in a baby carrier when she voted in 2012.
This time around, the mother-anddaughter team dressed in blue masks with “vote” written on them and black sweatshirts. Davis sported a pink “princess” T-shirt underneath, and Stout's shirt featured the message, “freedom, liberty and happiness.”
Davis ran ahead during the short trip down their street past both Trump and Biden yard signs to their voting site, Cranbrook Elementary School, on the Northwest Side.
“I've always wanted my daughter to understand it's not just a civil duty to vote, but also a privilege and a way that we get to share what we believe and our voice,” said Stout, 39. “They've talked about it a lot at school.”
Davis, who is in the third grade, said she had a school assignment asking her to come up with her own presidential campaign.
“I said I would fix the problem about Black Lives Matter and that it would be against the law to make fun of somebody because of their skin,” said Davis, who is biracial.
Stout, who is white, said she has been especially mindful about finding resources to explain voting, civil rights and racial injustice to her daughter during this election year.
“It can't just be my voice,” Stout said. “I don't know all of the challenges she's going to face in her life, and as much as I try to understand it, I've never faced it, personally.”
According to Stout, Davis has already experienced discrimination.
“In preschool, a little girl would always throw sand on her and tell her that her skin was dirty,” Stout recalled. “(Davis) started wanting to color everyone peach. I think it was also in that moment (I realized) how ignorant it is to (want to) be colorblind. You have to talk about race.”
Prior to the election, Stout also took
Davis to help register people to vote — a task her daughter enjoyed.
“She held up a sign and talked to a couple of people,” Stout said.
It also didn't hurt that doughnuts were available onsite.
Although Stout is open with her daughter about what's going on in the country, she recognizes the election can be just as stressful for kids, so she sets
boundaries.
“Whether it's from what they happen to pick up from the news or their friends and family, this is definitely impacting them,” she said.
But Davis said she was feeling happy after they voted. She selected the presidential candidate on the screen and high-fived her mother when they left the school. She also suggested they put their voting stickers on their masks. Stout said she felt relieved. “Regardless of what happens, I have my faith and I know that there's a plan for us, and we're resilient and we'll figure it out.” ethompson@dispatch.com @miss_ethompson
“I’ve always wanted my daughter to understand it’s not just a civil duty to vote, but also a privilege and a way that we get to share what we believe and our voice. They’ve talked about it a lot at school.”
Sarah Stout, talking about voting with her 8-year-old daughter