Modern Family Episode 3.19 Election Day

It all started with a stop sign. Actually, it all started with the lack of a stop sign at a dangerous intersection. After Claire was denied her safety request in "Door to Door," she decided to run against the smarmy Duane Bailey for town council in "Hit and Run." Even after the disastrous debate in "Little Bo Bleep," the entire family is still campaigning to help their favorite candidate win the big election in this episode directed by Bryan Cranston.

Phil is driving 50 of the community's finest senior citizens to the polls while the kids work the phone banks. His first passenger is Walt, who needs to make a few stops before casting his vote. Okay, it's more than a few stops. Walt's antics keep Phil from fulfilling his original goal. Remember how we said he was going to get 50 seniors to vote? Well, he came up 49 short.

Mitchell and Cameron are Claire's men on the streets. They are spreading the word with the help of the loudspeaker system they've attached atop their car. They have a vast collection of catchy sayings such as "We're here, we're Claire, get used to it." Okay, that's not one of their best, but you get the idea.

With great voice comes great power. Anyone caught littering gets booming admonition from Cameron. Mitchell's words have all jaywalkers scrambling for the crosswalk. The guys also voice their opinions on a bunch of businesses in town. They love their new toy until they realize the speaker is on as they gossip about a young lady who now believes her fiance is gay. That's only because Cam and Mitch said he is.

Jay wants to do his part to help his daughter get into office. Unfortunately, his local polling place is run by a lady from his past. Her name is Dottie and she's the first woman Jay dated after his divorce. Things didn't end well. Jay slipped out of her house one morning and never saw her again. He tries to sneak into a voting booth, but Dottie busts him. She claims that what happened between them is water under the bridge. That's a lie. That's also the reason Jay believes his vote for Claire never made its way into the ballot box.

Claire's fake tooth from an old ice skating injury falls out just as a member of the press snaps her photograph. Things go south again when she's whacked in the mouth by a microphone before a radio interview. Suddenly, Claire has lots of trouble pronouncing any word containing the letter "s." She sounds a lot like Sylvester the cat, though the phrase "sufferin' succotash" never comes up. Claire sounds drunk even though the entire family knows that's not her drunk voice.

The polls close and the results are in. Claire loses the big election, but she's not the only one feeling bad. Almost all of Haley's college applications have been rejected. She has one more letter to open. The entire family circles around as she learns that, while she didn't get into this last college, she is in on their "wait list." Phil exclaims, "Our daughter might be going to college!" Whoo-hoo! As for Claire, she may have lost the election, but Duane Bailey did finally give her that stop sign. Whoo-hoo again!