Juan’s cell phone rang. “Hola, Rob. Whatcha doing?”
Juan listened for a long time, just saying, “Yeah… yeah.”
It was Juan’s friend, Rob Lewis, reminding him to register to vote. After a while, the conversation slowed down. “Ok,” Juan confirmed, “I gotta go to the community center?”
“Ok,” he said again. “Yep, I understand. I gotta bring my proof of citizenship papers. Anything else?” Juan listened a moment longer. “Yeah, I’ll have time to do it today after work. They’re gonna tell me what to do? Ok. Ok, bye.” Juan hung up.
“Are you going to register to vote, Dad?” Carlos asked.
“Yeah” Juan replied, finishing up his coffee. “Are you gonna be home all day?”
“Uh-huh,” Carlos grunted. “I don't have any plans. I thought I’d just hang out.” Carlos was on two-week leave from the Marine Corps, before heading out to his next assignment.
“Ok, good.” Juan turned to Maria, “Just lock the doors today. We’ll figure out something tonight when I get home.”
Maria kissed him. “Te amo, mi amor.”
“Te amo, también.” Juan held her for a moment and then left the house to begin his day.
It was late afternoon when Juan arrived at the South Mountain Community Center. It wasn’t far from Juan’s home. He’d done some work there a few years ago, installing the sheet metal hood for their commercial oven, so he was familiar with the parking lot and the layout of the offices.
When he got out of his pickup, Juan felt like something was off. He'd driven past El Reposo Park, which backed up to the community center, and he was surprised to see it so busy this time of day. There were dozens of young people hanging around. What’s going on? Sometimes they had events there, but he hadn’t heard about anything.
Once at the community center, Juan followed the signs until he found the voter registration center. It was basically just a table set up in one of the main hallways, with red, white, and blue cardboard decorations. The lady at the table spoke Spanish and helped him fill out his forms. He showed her his Arizona driver's license and new N-600 US certificate of citizenship, and she showed him how to fill out the form and where to sign.
Juan’s hand hovered over the party affiliation box. Republican, Independent, or Democrat? Which one should I be? He thought about his life, and the things that mattered to him. I’m already conservative. I've got traditional values. I'm for family and hard work.
He checked the box for Republican.
The nice lady behind the counter explained that he would receive his voter pamphlet in the mail soon.
“That’s it?” Juan asked when he was done signing.
“That’s it,” she said.
“That was easy.” He smiled and joked a little bit, then left to go back home.
As Juan made his way across the parking lot to his truck, he heard a distinctive popping sound. Is someone shooting off fireworks?
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