I was just sitting here thinking about Eric's experience as a first-time voter and it reminded me of my first attempt to register and vote. Things did not go well.

It was 1956 and I had just turned 23. I was a student in Murfreesboro, Tennessee and worked part time at the local newspaper. My wife and I lived in our trailer which was parked on a back lot of the college campus.

I went down to the court house to register and they asked me if I was a student at MTSC (now MTSU)and I said that I was. Then they asked me where I lived and I told them Murfreesboro. Next they wanted to know if I went to high school there and I said no, that I went to high school in Nashville. By then I was beginning to wonder what was going on.

"We can't register you here. You have to vote in Nashville."

"I don't live in Nashville, I live here. The residency requirement is six months and I've been here for three years."

"But you live in Nashville."

"I live here. I work here. I got married here. I own my home here." (OK, it was a trailer, but it was home.)

"I'm sorry, but you have to register and vote in Nashville."

Well, the next time I was in Nashville I called the voter registration place and told them the whole story. They said that I was right, as a resident of Murfreesboro, I should vote there. They said they couldn't legally register me to vote in Nashville.

I never got to vote in that election. I still get ticked when I think about it.
Howard