In 2000, I had my first taste of the democratic voting process. I was in the 6th grade and we were learning about how the voting process works by watching and reporting the presidential race between Al Gore and George W. Bush. We did lots of research on their platforms, policies and backgrounds. It was so exciting to see the process in action. By unanimous vote, Al Gore was my class’ pick for president. In our eyes,he couldn’t lose; logic and fairy-tale endings were on his side. Boy, were we in for a rude awakening from our dream of American democracy.