Casting a Ballot - One Person's Experience

I voted today...and I have the "I Voted 2008" sticker to prove it in case you doubt me.

After following the state and national campaigns for a year or more, and perhaps equally importantly after a cup of strong coffee at home this morning, I walked the four blocks in the grey pre-sunrise Seattle drizzle to my local polling place to do my civic duty as the polls opened at 7 a.m.

As I rounded the last corner, I was pleasantly surprised to see so many of my fellow citizens had turned out too as a line extended out the door of the school and around the corner of the block. I've been voting in this place for years and I've never seen so many people there. 

As I waited in that line in the cool morning air, and as we filed in to get our ballots, fill them out and slide them smoothly into the box I reflected on how important this election is and what it meant for me to be there voting in person. To me, it boiled down to two key things:

• This is a momentous election on many levels - national, state and local. The issues have been covered, commented upon and analyzed repeatedly (including on this blog), so we all know what is at stake. Participating in this collective American decision, influencing what we do next at this critical juncture in our history, and making sure my voice was heard proved to be a very rewarding moment. Not much more to say than that, except...

• Another part of that oval sticker that I received after voting says "farewell to polls." That's because this election is the last in which residents of King County (the county in which the city of Seattle sits) will be able to vote in person on election day at a polling place. The entire election will be conducted by mail in all future elections. No more will voters here be able to literally drop a ballot in a box on election day, and I think this will be missed - at least I know I will miss it. Today's experience drove that home to me. The hot gym packed with people, the conversations with fellow members of the community while waiting in line, holding the ballot, filling it your choices at a voting station and putting the ballot into the scanner box for counting...all of this will no longer be. Since the beginning of the nation, this has been how people voted. So, call me nostalgic or old fashioned, but I will miss voting in this manner, and doing so for the last time today added to the overall importance of the experience.
  

My duty discharged, I made my way back home to start work. I work with people in Ohio and on phone calls with them today several commented that lines were 1.5 hours long (my experience was about 40 min. total) and that there were many "observers" at the polling places as lawsuits are expected over the vote tallies no matter what happens. Ominous signals from that critical state for sure.

Later today Diane and I will visit a friend's house to watch election returns and see who wins. 

My fingers are crossed that the nation chooses well...not to mention my state and local community.

Fraud About Fraud

In the 2000 and the 2004 presidential elections there were - to say the least - major questions about voters being turned away at the polls and purging of voters off the voter roles in key states...all of it conveniently occurring in districts likely to vote Democratic and in key battleground states (Florida and Ohio) run by Republican administrations. Hmmm. Guess who ended up winning those states? Right. Bush.

Conservatives do this in key districts because lower turnout favors their candidates, and if they can manage to get the "right" type of voter from their perspective to not have their vote counted (i.e. minorities) they stand an even better chance of winning. Problem is, this is pretty un-American and definitely not "country first" behavior. More KKK-like behavior. And, as a kicker...these incidents were not investigated because, guess again...who do you think runs those districts and states? Right again. Republicans. So, they don't investigate "their own." This was especially true in 2000 as Bush's brother was the governor of Florida.

Anyway, in 2000, 2004 and ever since, conservative groups have tried to "muddy the waters" to help minimize their pretty obvious disruption of elections by asserting that Democrats have systematically have perpetrated voter fraud by trying to get bogus voters registered so more votes can be cast for Democratic candidates. As in, hey, they're doing crazy stuff too!

Mind you, there have been no findings of "voter fraud" in places charged by conservatives. But hey, little things like facts don't stop "true believer" conservatives. And, the few among the American public who actually do pay attention to news and politics are unclear on exactly what's happening and just kinda give up trying to figure out who is to blame...or they feel good enough to blame the other party.

Now, this election year conservatives are doing it again but smarter. Instead of just their own voter suppression activities along with assertions of voter fraud, conservatives are now proactively planting voter fraud cases to set up the possibility of contesting close elections in battleground states later. 

A good overview of what's happening now is here. 

And here.

The idea for them is to raise the question of voter fraud in key districts of key states that are expected to be close on election day. In my opinion, to get all this going I think conservative groups may be actually manufacturing and submitting the false forms that are submitted to liberal voter registration groups. 

At any rate, if certain state races for president do turn out to be close, they can go back and say, "see, it's voter fraud by Democratic-leaning organizations" and make their legal and political case that certain large blocks of votes are not counted...or are at least taken out of the official tally while they are questioned or examined. In a close election, that could very conceivably give them room to declare victory in those districts and states.

And if the election is close but they are denied none the less, conservatives can again use the "muddy the waters" strategy to shuck the blame again.

So, how about this...how about we not make this a close election?