By CRYSTAL HERBER Herald Staff Writer

Assisted by a walker, Robert Hill stepped off the elevator Thursday in a building only a few de-cades older than himself. He moved with the determi-nation of a man set to complete a task he holds in high regard, because he knows just what it costs. Hunched low over his ballot, Hill’s blue eyes moved rapidly over the page, reading the candi-dates’ and judges’ names. Red, white and blue voting booths helped ensure vot-ing privacy in the Frank-lin County Clerk’s Office in the courthouse, 315 S. Main St., Ottawa.

Hill, 92, Ottawa, a long-time banker with Kansas State Bank, 236 N. Main St., said he’s voted in so many elections he’s unable to give an exact number of how many times he’s cast a ballot. “A lot of them. When you’re 92 years old, you voted in several of them,” he said with a chuckle. “I haven’t missed any that I know of.” As each election passes, Hill said he increasingly understands the impor-tance of casting a ballot for local, state and nation-

al leaders, all of which are listed on today’s ballot. “It’s a right we’re given,”

he said. “That’s why we’re Americans. We’ve become a free country, and that’s

what it’s all about.” To him, the impor-tance of this democratic and more than 200-year-old American tradition dates back to his time in the U.S. armed services. After graduating from the University of Kansas Law

School in 1942, Hill was commissioned an ensign and attended midshipmen school at the University of Notre Dame. He then was promoted to a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy.

Photos by Matt Bristow/The Ottawa Herald

ABOVE: Robert Hill, 92, Ottawa, and his daughter Kathy Hill, St. Joseph, Mo., laugh after being asked about his party af-filiation Thursday outside the Franklin County Clerk’s Office at the Franklin County Courthouse, 315 S. Main St., Ottawa. Kathy Hill responded that her father was a Kansan.

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ABOVE: Robert Hill, an Ottawa World War II veteran, casts his ballot Thursday at the Franklin County Clerk’s Office at the Franklin County Courthouse. “I want to be sure my vote counts,” he said. “I didn’t want it to get lost in the mail.”

LEFT: Robert Hill fills out his ballot Thursday at the Franklin County Clerk’s Office at the Franklin County Courthouse in Ottawa. “You need to be informed, you need to read or listen to the speeches,” Hill said. General election polls are open today 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Photos by Matt Bristow/The Ottawa Herald

ABOVE: Members of the audience stand to join fourth- and fifth-grade students performing “The Star-Spangled Banner” Thursday night during a “Vote 2012” production at Eugene Field Elementary School, 720 S. Tremont St., Ottawa. The performance, a musical review about the freedom to vote, was written and conducted by Alan Cunningham, Eugene Field Elementary School music teacher.

RIGHT: Fourth- and fifth-grade students perform a rendition of Neil Diamond’s “America” Thursday night during a “Vote 2012” production at Eugene Field Elementary School. For more on teachers’ and students’ election-year education efforts, See Marge Stevens’ column on Page 5.

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Hill

A special edition of The Her-ald salutes Franklin County veterans and provides avail-able local, state and national election results.

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See HILL, Page 10

Students bring star-spangled message to stage

He served in the Euro-pean theater of World War II from 1942 to 1946. Hill was not in the first wave of the invasion of Normandy on D-Day, but instead fol-lowed close behind. The troops in his craft, called a landing craft infantry, were deposited on Utah Beach 30 minutes after the invasion began June 6, 1944. Being in the Navy, Hill piloted the craft that transported infantrymen, but did not land on the beach. “We landed D plus 30 minutes, first wave in is say 6 o’clock, we’d go in on 6:30, take troops in,” Hill said, giving an example of the timeline of the mis-sion that would eventually bring more than 160,000 Allied forces to Europe. “Thank goodness I was on Utah. A lot of the casualties were on Omaha instead of where I was,” Hill said. More than 9,000 Al-lied troops were killed or wounded in the initial June 6 D-Day invasion. Casualties on Utah Beach, the western-most land-ing zone, were the light-est of any beach, with 197 casualties out of the about 23,000 troops that landed. Back at the Franklin County Courthouse, it took Hill about 10 minutes to fill out the ballot com-pletely. With steady hands, he walked across the small office to deposit his ballot in one of the three gray ballot lock boxes. Hill’s ballot, along with the hundreds of other Frank-lin County residents who chose to advance vote, will be counted tonight after the polls close at 7 p.m. Hill’s daughter, Kathy Hill, drove from St. Jo-seph, Mo., to take her father from his home at Vintage Park, 2250 S. Elm St., Ottawa, to the clerk’s office. Rather than put his absentee ballot in the mail, running a risk of it being lost, Hill wanted to hand deliver it to the bal-lot box. “I want to be sure my vote counts,” he said. “I didn’t want it to get lost in the mail.” Kathy Hill said she did not mind the almost-two-hour drive she made Thursday to take her father to the courthouse.

The motivation to vote was ingrained in her by her father many years ago, prompting her to study history and political sci-ence in college. She even ran for political office in Missouri at one time, she said. “I think it’s very im-portant. Our family has instilled that in us, and I think World War II guys re-ally know how important it is to protect our freedom,” Kathy Hill said. “And too

few people today vote.” A registered Republi-can, Hill has been watch-ing the presidential race with increased interest, trusting that the local rac-es will “work themselves out.” He watched all three presidential debates with his daughter. And after observing the candidates’ performances, he said either one would be a good choice. “We always have to have a choice, and we do have

a good choice and may the best man win,” Hill said, without revealing which candidate he chose. Hill said he believes more people are actively engaging in the elections these days. “[People are] better educated for one thing,” Hill said, adding there is more information avail-able to voters so they can make more informed deci-sions at the polls. Regardless of smear campaigns, attack ads and other staples that accom-pany a rough campaign season, Hill said, he doesn’t feel like politics have changed much. It’s still one person with one vote. “Politics has been politics for years. It’s ‘May the best man win,’ and that ain’t always the case,” Hill said with a laugh.

The Kansas Secretary of State office is predict-ing a 68 percent voter turnout in Kansas this election. But it’s not simply about casting a ballot, Hill said. People need to be informed about what they are voting for, he stressed. “You need to be in-formed. You need to read or listen to the speeches,” he said. “If you just go in there and vote blindly, then you don’t know what you’re voting for or any-thing. You need to be educated.” Despite being old enough, many people of voting age choose to forego stopping at the voting booths on Election Day. In the 2008 election, nonvot-ers constituted about 43 percent of the voting-age population, according to a Pew Research Center study. Various reasons for those people’s absence are given — lack of time, inter-est or engagement, among other things — but these voters’ absence at the polls has an effect as well. This apparent show of apathy to the democratic process by almost half the voting population worries Hill, he said. “Their vote counts,” Hill said. “One vote might make a difference in whatever happens, so they should be taught how im-portant their vote is. Our country wouldn’t be what it is if our votes didn’t count. That’s what makes the world go around.”

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Photo by Matt Bristow/The Ottawa Herald

Robert Hill, 92, Ottawa, displays an envelope holding his advanced ballot Thursday at the Frank-lin County Courthouse, 315 S. Main St., Ottawa. Hill, a World War II veteran, said he has voted in every election he can remember. “I haven’t missed any that I know of,” Hill said.

Page 10 The Ottawa Herald Tuesday, November 6, 2012

HILL: ‘I want to be sure my vote counts ... I didn’t want it to get lost in the mail’(Continued from Page 1)

A special edition of The Her-ald salutes Franklin County veterans and provides avail-able local, state and national election results.

COMING WEDNESDAY

“If you just go in there and vote blindly, then you don’t know what you’re voting for or anything. You need to be educated.”

— Robert Hill, World War II veteran, longtime Ottawa banker