Every four years, the United States elects (or re-elects) a President, as is the case with the fall of 2016. Many people, immigrants and natives alike, are confused how the system works, however. What is the Electoral College? (Hint: it’s not some kind of university.) And why are people obsessed with the number 270?
Alan Headbloom hosts Feel Like You Belong, a show filmed at WKTV focused on sharing the life stories of immigrants, expatriates, and refugees to the United States.
This cane was from a Gerald Ford Republican Party Presidential campaign that took place in Grand Rapids 1976. The handle says “For President” and the year “76t.” The cane was owned by Henry J. Danielski, a World War II veteran of the 82 Airborne Division and an old friend of Gerald Ford’s from when they grew up in Grand Rapids together. Danielski ran into Ford at a campaign event where he was limping due to a long-term war injury. Ford gave him this cane to help him walk. Danielski’s son later donated the cane to the Grand Rapids Pubic Museum.
The Grand Rapids Public Museum (GRPM) announced today the new mini exhibit Voting! Making it Count will open Oct. 1. Tying into the 2016 presidential election, this exhibit will showcase voting related artifacts of the GRPM Collections from the 1800s through the present day.
Voting! Making it Count will display a historical timeline of voting machines beginning with a wooden voting box that was used in the 1890s by the Grand Rapids Typographical Union, continuing with a standard voting machine that utilized levers for votes invented in 1898 and used through the 1960s, a ballot container from the 1930s and 1940s used by the 1st Ward 9th Precinct in Grand Rapids, a Douglas Collapsible Voting Booth used from 1945 until the 1960s in Grand Rapids, and a CES Votomatic Electronic Voting Machine that was used in the 2000 presidential election.
Other artifacts in this exhibit will include bumper stickers and buttons from various U.S. presidential elections, a Gerald R. Ford Presidential campaign cane, and campaign gloves, gavels and tags.
Admission to the mini exhibit Voting! Making it Count will be included with general admission to GRPM. This exhibit will be on display from Oct. 1 – Nov. 13, 2016, coinciding with the 2016 Presidential Election taking place on Tuesday, November 8.
The GRPM continuously showcases several mini-exhibitions, or pop-up exhibits, each year. They are modeled after pop-up stores, and are intended to be shorter in duration, tie into national and current events and showcase the GRPM’s Collections on a routine basis to the community. For further details, visit grpm.org.
