This
Tuesday, the most important election of our lifetimes will occur. It
is imperative that you go out and vote.
And none
of this bullshit voting for Nader crap. I don't care if you live
in a Blue State. We need to send a
message. Kerry needs a mandate. There needs to be no doubt in anyone's
mind. This needs to be lopsided.
Still in Florida.
This was one of the
most moving, meaningful days of my life.
My job is to get people
to the polls and, more importantly, to keep them there. Because
they’re crazily jammed. Crazily. No one expected this
turnout. For me, it’s been a deeply humbling, deeply
gratifying experience. At today’s
early vote in the College Hill district of East Tampa -- a heavily democratic,
90% African American community — we had 879 voters wait an average
of five hours to cast their vote. People were there until four hours
after they closed
(as long as they’re in line by 5, they can vote).
Here’s what
was so moving:
We hardly lost anyone. People stood
outside for an hour, in the blazing sun, then inside for another
four hours as the
line snaked around the
library, slowly
inching forward. It made Disneyland look like speed-walking. Some
waited 6 hours. To cast one vote. And EVERYBODY felt that it
was crucial,
that their vote was
important, and that they were important.
And there were tons of first
time voters. Tons.
Aside from some hassles from the Republican
election commissioner ( … [ed.note:
Here the letter writer describes various shenanigans intended
to exacerbate the difficulties of waiting hours in line to
vote.
I’ve censored this detail
to preserve the anonymity of the writer.], I actually had an
amazing experience. No, actually, in a way because of that
I had an amazing
experience. Because these
people know that the system that’s in place doesn’t
want them voting. And yet they are determined to vote.
The best
of all was an 80 year old African American man who said to
me: “When
I first started I wasn’t even allowed to vote. Then,
when I did, they was trying to intimidate me. But now I see
all these
folks here to make sure that
my vote counts. This is the first time in my life that I feel
like when I cast my vote it’s actually gonna be heard.”
To
see people coming out — elderly, disabled, blind, poor;
people who have to hitch rides, take buses, etc — and
then staying in line for hours and hours and hours... Well,
it’s humbling. And it’s awesome. And it’s
kind of beautiful.
Sometimes you forget what America
is.
I think there’s hope.
- ES
