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11/01/2004: "T Minus 24 and Counting"

Well tomorrow is the big day that American voters (both alive and deceased, both citizen and non-citizen, both real and fictitious) will cast their ballots and set the agenda for the next four years for all of us. My husband has been telling me for nine months that the President will take the election 60-40. I hope he’s right. I wouldn’t mind seeing the battalion of lawyers waiting to pounce on any perceived infraction of voting rules join the ranks of the unemployed on November 3rd.

Regardless of who wins tomorrow, I would like to see as a top agenda item at both the federal and state levels some decent legislation that protects the integrity of our voting system. The stories we have heard for the past month are enough to make you scream.

Counties ordering three times the number of ballots than registered voters to ensure they have enough. Either they are anticipating that every voter will spoil two ballots and finally get it right on their third attempt or there is something very fishy about this. Paying people to register voters that accept applications submitted by Mickey Mouse might seem funny to some but I ‘m just not laughing. The number of people double registered to vote in more than one state and who voted illegally in the last election is just a tell tale sign of what is to come. Why with all our technological advances is there no national database of registered voters to prevent this from happening?

Anyway, tomorrow if you are a legally, registered voter, I hope you will cast one vote and only one for the candidate of your choice after you have educated yourself on the issues we face. I’ve heard that the networks will not call a state for a candidate until the polls have closed in that state. That’s better than 2000 and not good enough. Add to the above-mentioned legislation, that no results are revealed until polls are completely closed across the country.

I once stood in the freezing cold of Colorado for over an hour to cast my vote for Ronald Regan’s re-election. When I finally got back into my car and turned on the heat and radio, they had already announced his victory. Why had I bothered? It was the wrong attitude. I had my say. It may not have been pivotal in deciding the winner of the election but my one small voice in the world was heard as one piece of the overall. Hang in there tomorrow and don’t let the media discourage you.

Four more years!