Election Day Potatoes Get My Vote

About author / Sarah Christine Bolton

Coffee addict; professional food writer; food fusion. Her slow cooker recipes go above and beyond your normal crockpot fare.

I was too young to vote in 2000, but I remember watching with great interest as the debacle in Florida kept a president-elect from being named until months after November 4, 2000.

When I moved away from my home state of California to go to school in Mississippi, I voted by absentee ballot. Now, I’m excited about voting for the first time in Memphis, Tennessee and only hope that somehow the bureaucratic system processed my registration so I can walk in and cast my vote.

I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m getting excited about Election Day this year. Although the campaigns have at times resembled a three-ring circus, overall, this is an exciting time for the United States.
Regardless of who wins this year’s presidential race, great strides will be made in our society. We will either have a woman in the White House or a black man in the White House. Either way, it’s pretty cool!

Since I’m always thinking about food in relation to the rest of my life, I started wondering if people eat any special kinds of food on Election Day. Here’s what I dug up:

Poll Place Noshing

Obviously, all those election workers putting in long hours on November 4 are going to need some brain fuel to keep going. However, from what I read in various newspaper articles from around the country, most poll workers barely have time to catch a bathroom break, let alone eat lunch.

It’s a tough job, working those polls! We should all be appreciative and all think about doing it ourselves at some point in life. (My plan is do it after I’ve had a career, a family, and a mid-life crisis. I don’t see myself having much time before that.)

Election Day Sweet Tooth

In a book titled Cuisine and Culture by Linda Civitello, the biggest holiday in the newly-democratic American colonial states was Election Day. Christmas and Thanksgiving weren’t celebrated until the Civil War, so Election Day was it. Everyone got off work, there were parades in the streets, and everyone ate some very rich (and very liquored!) Election Day cake.

Election Night Par-Tay

On Election night, no doubt lots of parties will be going down, complete with drinks and appetizers. If you are planning your own Election night party, you could go all hardcore and order some very special sodas to sip on. At the Jones Soda Store (www.jonessodastore.com) you can order a six-pack case of either “Yes We Can Cola” (with Obama’s picture on the label) or “Pure McCain Cola” (with, well yeah, you guessed it, McCain’s picture on the label). Or, you could always order a case of both, so you are ready to celebrate no matter what happens.

Whether you are just voting, working the polls, or throwing a big bash, you will be busy on Election Day. Save yourself some time, and cook up a big crockpot full of patriotic potatoes. You can get all fancy and call them “Maverick Taters” or “Potatoes for a Change” or whatever strikes your fancy.

The only bummer is that we don’t all get a day off of work.

Serves/Makes: 4

• 8 small red potatoes, cut into small cubes
• 1 sweet red pepper, cored, seeded and diced finely
• 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh chives
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup bacon bits
• 1 cup milk or soy milk
• 1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese