Monday, October 27, 2008

Democracy at Work

After being on the road all of this past week, today was to be spent hanging out with my son, Jason (who doesn't have preschool on Mondays), and running some errands. One of the things that I hoped to do was vote early so that I wouldn't have to deal with the lines next Tuesday.

As I pulled up to the library near our home where early voting was taking place, I couldn't believe the scene in front of me. Although we are over a week out from election day, there was a line outside the library at least 100 people deep and who knows how many were inside (and this was between 10 and 11 a.m.) There were camera crews from at least two Orlando news stations, campaign signs everywhere and traffic was backed up for over a block.

I ended up not voting today since I didn't feel like waiting in line with a four-year-old all morning but, still, I was encouraged by the turnout. It tells me that not only are people exercising their individual right to vote, but there were at least a dozen people holding signs for the candidates and the issues they are supporting.

I am grateful that I live in a country where every four years we vote on who we want our president to be, all the while knowing that there will be a peaceful transition of power. Even with all the flaws that our country has had historically (e.g. it wasn't that long ago that African Americans and women couldn't exercise this fundamental right of voting), we still can say today that we all have a voice in who are elected officials are. If you are a registered voter, please make the effort to let your voice be heard.

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