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I first shared these thoughts a year ago, when voters across the country were casting ballots. I’m returning to them now, even though only six states held state elections alongside various city contests, because the people I encountered at the polls demonstrated what civic responsibility can look like.

For more than 20 years, I worked elections at my home precinct in Arlington. I dreaded the grueling schedule: arriving at 5 a.m. for the 6 a.m. opening, then staying until the machines were closed and the results totaled around 8:30 or 9 p.m.

Civic duty was not what initially brought me there. My schoolteacher daughter persuaded me with a familiar appeal: It would be fun, and we would do it together. That word can be difficult for a parent to resist.

She eventually stopped working the polls to raise her children, but I continued. The reason was simple: The experience was inspiring. Watching neighbors arrive throughout the day felt a little like going to church, except everyone could talk.

One of those neighbors was Jimmy Golden, a World War II veteran and former German prisoner of war. Despite walking with a limp, he came inside to cast his ballot. Before Election Day, I had offered “Out of Polls” voting through his wife, Liz, which would have allowed him to remain in their car. After speaking with Jimmy, she declined. Voting mattered enough to him that he wanted to walk in himself, however slowly, and support his chosen candidate.

There were young mothers studying sample ballots while pushing children in strollers. Other parents brought older children into the voting booth so they could see democracy at work.

One year, a young woman who was new to the United States handed me her phone and asked me to photograph her outside the booth. She wanted to show her parents that she had cast her first American ballot.

Another neighbor called before an election to ask when the precinct would be less crowded. She hoped to spare her veteran husband a long wait while he was wearing a leg cast.

Growing up, I was taught that voting was something people did no matter how difficult it might be. The determination I witnessed during two decades at the polls showed that spirit was still alive—and made every exhausting Election Day worthwhile.

I wore my “I VOTED” sticker with pride.