PRINCETON — When a Mercer County native learned that he
couldn’t vote in Georgia,
there was only one thing to do — drive more than nine hours and vote early.
Private First Class Ian Comer of the Princeton area is a Calvary Scout who has
served in Iraq just
southwest of Baghdad.
He returned in May with the Third Brigade, Third Infantry Division and was
assigned to Fort Benning, Georgia.
Despite being in the Middle East, 22-year-old
Comer followed what was going on back home, and one of the main items of
interest was the upcoming election.
“I’ve been building up for this election ever since it started, and I’ve been
keeping tabs on it to see who I would vote for,” Comer said.
Comer wanted to cast his vote, but doing that in Georgia proved to be a problem.
First, he needed to get a Georgia
driver’s license. Second, he needed his birth certificate before he could apply
for the license. He could not get anyone to fax him a copy.
His grandmother Bettie Stauffer said that she tried to help him get an absentee
ballot, but the deadline for getting such a ballot had passed. Comer decided
there was one way to get to a polling place.
“I couldn’t vote in the primary, so I had to come home and vote,” Comer said.
He departed Fort Benning
at 3 p.m. Thursday and arrived in Mercer
County at 12:30 a.m.
Friday. The drive took more than nine hours.
There are voters who skip going to the polls because the weather is bad or the
timing seems to be inconvenient, but to Comer, voting is important enough to
brave weather or long hours behind the wheel.
“It’s not a right — it’s a privilege,” Comer said. “And if you don’t act on it,
you’re going to miss out on having your opinion felt. When people don’t go out
and vote, democracy fails. That’s how most democracies fail, because people
stop caring about the system after a while. If you don’t participate, it
becomes like totalitarianism.”
When Comer voted at the Mercer County Courthouse, he encountered familiar faces
who were excited to see him home even if it was for a short time. Comer’s
grandfather Oliver Stauffer come to the polls to vote with him.
“I actually got my granddad to come vote with me,” Comer said. “ It was only
the second time in 20 years, that’s what he told me this morning, and I said,
“well, I’m glad you came out to do it with me.’’
Comer re-enlisted Oct. 2. He said that he may be deployed to Iraq again, but he was hoping for Afghanistan.
Early voting has been helpful, Bettie Stauffer said.
“I think it’s really good. You never know what the weather’s going to be like,
and a lot of people don’t like to get out when it’s bad,” she said.
