I remember the election of 1960 when JFK was running against Nixon. I was 6.
No, I wasn’t politically astute or anything like that. But I grew up in a Catholic family, so Kennedy being Catholic was a big deal to my folks. I don’t recall the bruhaha around it all, nor would I have understood it at the time.
My naive little brain thought the presidential race was about electing the best man in the country. No, it never occurred to me that I woman could run. I figured everyone voted for who they thought was best and he got to be president. I asked my dad why he didn’t run, since I thought he was a pretty good man. At the time, I didn’t realize he was too young.
Three years later when Kennedy was assassinated, I was crushed. How could someone kill the best man in the whole country??? I think maybe that planted the seed of my cynicism.
As for my first election as a registered voter - 1972. I voted for Nixon because I was from Maryland and Agnew was from Maryland. I would be a few years before I paid attention to things like issues. I honestly don’t recall if I was ever a member of either major party. I think I’ve pretty much always been non-affiliated and mostly moderate.
I was 7, nearly 8, in the 1944 election. I don’t think I would have remembered it except that my school was used as a polling place and I remember all the posters, flags, etc. I do really recall the 1948 election because my parents were so unhappy at the thought of Dewey winning and so happy when he didn’t. I probably voted in 1958, although I don’t remember doing so. I remember voting in 1960 very vividly.
The first referendum I remember was the one about the current Spanish Constitution, December 6th 1978. We call my youngest brother “the Constitutional one” because he was born that same year. I know Dad was against, because our local laws were being “modernized” beyond recognition; modern democracy is a lot less direct than our traditional methods. Don’t know what Mom voted.
The first elections, the first ones after it was approved, but I’d have to look up the date.
The first ones I could vote in, the general elections in the summer of 86 (google says June). I’d turned 18 in March.
JFK-Nixon in 1960, when I was 13. Shamefully, I don’t think I voted until the Carter-Reagan election in 1980 at age 33. I remember being appalled at the notion of a Reagan presidency. My defense for not voting regularly is that I was career military and it really didn’t matter to me who was in the White House. I didn’t become a super voter until I met my present wife in 1992. It was certainly less stressful being disinterested in politics for all those years.
The first election I remember was LBJ/Goldwater in 1964. I was 7. I turned 18 in 1975, so the first one I voted in was Ford/Carter in 1976. I voted for Ford because he was the incumbent and I thought he deserved a full term of his own. I guess the backlash against his pardon of Nixon was too great, though.
Truman – Dewey, 1948. I was 9, preferred Truman because I liked the word Democrat better than Republican, neither of which I knew the meaning. I did not vote, you had to be 21 in those days. My dad wouldn’t tell me who he voted for, because he wanted to impress upon me the secrecy, that you never needed to tell anyone how you voted. I think he voted for Truman.
The first election I can remember is 1994, the one that came at the end of apartheid, when Nelson Mandela was elected. I was 6, and in fact going to the polling station with my parents is the earliest childhood memory that I can identify to a specific date. Of course I didn’t understand the significance at the time.
The first time I voted was municipal elections in 2006, when I was 18. Those were also fairly significant because they were when the ANC lost control of Cape Town city council, the beginning of a change in South African politics that is still continuing with elections we’ve just held.
I vaugely recall the 1968 election, as I remember dad carried me into the “booth”, in those days the Votematic mechanical machines were used, with lots of levers, and a handle that opened the curtain when done, this recorded the vote. It probably rang a bell? Nowadays, nothin’. Just sucks up your ballot, probably to be expunged. If voting changed anything it would probably be illegal.
JFK in 1960. I supposedly was involved in the Stephenson campaign in 1956 with my parents, but I don’t remember it. By 1960, though (I was 17), I followed politics pretty seriously.
I first voted in a school budget in 1971. I was eligible to vote the first time they voted on it, but they had a registration requirement and the amendment went into effect after the registration date passed. The budget failed, and the voted again, probably knowing that the high schoolers who could vote would take part.
My first presidential election was 1972. Voted for McGovern. I didn’t really like him as a candidate, but I had been waiting for years to vote against Nixon.
The first Presidential Election that I remember was Nixon McGovern in 1972. I was eight years old.
I registered to vote a week before my 18th birthday and have only missed voting in one election of any kind since then. I have always been registered Non-partisan except for a couple of Libertarian years.
My first Presidential vote was for Mondale in 1984.
I remember 1968 – Nixon, Humphrey, Wallace – very clearly. My family were big RFK supporters. Some of my cousins and uncles and aunts refused to vote at all, once RFK had been murdered. They gave up hope entirely, and concluded that the entire process was corrupt and rigged.
(Not entirely unlike some Bernie Sanders supporters today…)
I first voted in the 1974 mid-term election, but I have absolutely no memory of it.
First one I remember was 1960. I turned 9 that November. I liked Kennedy and although I really knew nothing of Nixon, I remember distinctly NOT liking him. Seemed shady I guess.
First presidential election I voted in was 1976. I can’t remember if I was eligible in 1972 as I turned 21 that November and it was after the election. I was living out of state and wasn’t registered. Can’t remember when 18 year olds were eligible but I think it was too late for me anyway.
As a Canadian I think I only became truly politically aware when I heard of the resignation of Nixon. I recall exactly where I was and knew it was significant.
I first voted federally in 1984 for the Progressive Conservative party, lead by Brian Mulroney. The Conservatives went on to win that election.
