When I was a child, I knew what my middle initial was. Not so much anymore. The voters’ ballot, that will be mailed out on October 16, will most likely remind us that we need to sign our name on the ballot only as it appears on their voting records.
Does that mean that in their records my initial is a “J” as my mom intended when she named me D’Ann June? I may have signed it that way in 1964, the first time I ever voted. Or is my middle initial a “D”?
The custom when I married in the late sixties was to use your maiden name as your middle initial. That would be a “D” for my maiden name Dufenhorst. So, in 1967, when I married, I probably voted using D’Ann D. Pedee as my legal name.
When I remarried in the eighties, and became D’Ann Tedford, I dropped the name Dufenhorst altogether. It was cumbersome for the small space provided on documents asking for a middle name. The age of technology then cried out for us to be concise. I went back to “J,” using djtedford for email accounts. I need to check VoteWA.gov for my registration information. I wonder now if my vote has ever counted.
