it's these moments of clarity that cripple me most...
yesterday brought a lot of events to my attention that severely lessened my faith in the democratic process.
i was a poll watcher here at USC - a lot of my friends had registered large numbers of students on campus from their campus addresses, and we figured this would be problematic (though legal, and has been since 1979). i showed up at 5pm to help with the closing rush at the polls.
the first poll we were at had few if any problems. like all the other polls in richland county, they sent all their problems to the state voting office at the corner of hampton and harden. needless to say, around 5:15, we realized we should be there instead.
we showed up, and what i saw was absolutely horrifying to me. i realize fully that racism is alive and well in south carolina, but i figured that the electoral process was still semi-legitimate. i was wrong. i watched as minority after minority was turned away from the polls with lying and intimidation on the part of those working. the woman in charge of answering their questions said, "i don't know why you keep asking about these provisional ballots. we don't have them. in fact, i don't even know what they are". the people there were dedicated. they had waited in line for 2 or 3 hours to cast their ballot. a lot of them had been sent from other polling places, waited in that line, and been sent back - but they still wanted to vote. these people showed a dedication to the process that renewed my faith in the american public on the whole.
what i continued to see, however, severely diminished my faith in the government. the fact that people were turned away with no logical reason, were treated as though they were stupid (by people who didn't understand the law, no less) and basically scared out of voting sickens me. moreover, at 8:15 (when we were still at the polls with about 200 people in line), someone came and got the results of richland county. you're right, the 200 people shouldn't count. i mean, they've only been there 2 hours. they were in line at 7. but their votes shouldn't count.
then the results came in. i was saddened to see the lack of intelligence on the part of the people in south dakota, but that's their state, not mine. i was more saddened to see that the 52,000 absentee ballots that were lost in FL weren't counted. i was even more hurt to see that gerrymandering in texas had placed all the incumbent democrats into highly republican districts, leaving chet edwards standing alone.
the worst thing, though, came this morning. with a 130,000 vote margin in ohio, senator john kerry conceded, despite the 250,000 provisional and absentee ballots that were outstanding. despite the fact that new mexico and iowa said outright that they wouldn't be done counting until wednesday, he conceded. i am as cynical and pessimistic as everyone else, but i think that we need to have a renewed faith in the process. the people who stood in line for that many hours and went through that much shit had faith in the process, but those who were counting and those who were running treated it with a complete and total disheartening disregard. whether or not florida was a legitimate victory for bush isn't even what i'm questioning - but there were three states that flat out DID NOT COUNT in this election. i feel that the people of new mexico, iowa, and ohio deserve the vote as much as i do (whether or not mine counted, yay florida absentee). i feel that the people in south carolina who were turned away from the polls have fought harder to vote than most of us who got to, but they didn't count either.
people need to stop praying for results and start praying for the process. we look too skeptically at the ends but don't question whether or not an election was legitimate if "our" candidate was elected. if the process dies, the country dies, folks, and that is becoming more and more of a reality.
i was a poll watcher here at USC - a lot of my friends had registered large numbers of students on campus from their campus addresses, and we figured this would be problematic (though legal, and has been since 1979). i showed up at 5pm to help with the closing rush at the polls.
the first poll we were at had few if any problems. like all the other polls in richland county, they sent all their problems to the state voting office at the corner of hampton and harden. needless to say, around 5:15, we realized we should be there instead.
we showed up, and what i saw was absolutely horrifying to me. i realize fully that racism is alive and well in south carolina, but i figured that the electoral process was still semi-legitimate. i was wrong. i watched as minority after minority was turned away from the polls with lying and intimidation on the part of those working. the woman in charge of answering their questions said, "i don't know why you keep asking about these provisional ballots. we don't have them. in fact, i don't even know what they are". the people there were dedicated. they had waited in line for 2 or 3 hours to cast their ballot. a lot of them had been sent from other polling places, waited in that line, and been sent back - but they still wanted to vote. these people showed a dedication to the process that renewed my faith in the american public on the whole.
what i continued to see, however, severely diminished my faith in the government. the fact that people were turned away with no logical reason, were treated as though they were stupid (by people who didn't understand the law, no less) and basically scared out of voting sickens me. moreover, at 8:15 (when we were still at the polls with about 200 people in line), someone came and got the results of richland county. you're right, the 200 people shouldn't count. i mean, they've only been there 2 hours. they were in line at 7. but their votes shouldn't count.
then the results came in. i was saddened to see the lack of intelligence on the part of the people in south dakota, but that's their state, not mine. i was more saddened to see that the 52,000 absentee ballots that were lost in FL weren't counted. i was even more hurt to see that gerrymandering in texas had placed all the incumbent democrats into highly republican districts, leaving chet edwards standing alone.
the worst thing, though, came this morning. with a 130,000 vote margin in ohio, senator john kerry conceded, despite the 250,000 provisional and absentee ballots that were outstanding. despite the fact that new mexico and iowa said outright that they wouldn't be done counting until wednesday, he conceded. i am as cynical and pessimistic as everyone else, but i think that we need to have a renewed faith in the process. the people who stood in line for that many hours and went through that much shit had faith in the process, but those who were counting and those who were running treated it with a complete and total disheartening disregard. whether or not florida was a legitimate victory for bush isn't even what i'm questioning - but there were three states that flat out DID NOT COUNT in this election. i feel that the people of new mexico, iowa, and ohio deserve the vote as much as i do (whether or not mine counted, yay florida absentee). i feel that the people in south carolina who were turned away from the polls have fought harder to vote than most of us who got to, but they didn't count either.
people need to stop praying for results and start praying for the process. we look too skeptically at the ends but don't question whether or not an election was legitimate if "our" candidate was elected. if the process dies, the country dies, folks, and that is becoming more and more of a reality.