Decision Day
I hit my local polling place shortly after 7 this morning and turned out to be #89 in line, (I looked at the numbered first-stage check-in list) and only had about a 25 minute wait. I didn't ask anyone in line directly about their voting, but the buzz I did hear was encouraging. A great many first time voters were in evidence and those who were talking had variations on a theme of change. The only other common theme was a general sense of relief that it's almost over. This has been a horribly long season, stretching all the way back through the undeniably broken primary process.
I wish I'd brought my camera with me, because the polling location (a local elementary school) was a cry of GOP desperation. It looked as if they'd gathered up as many yard signs as they could and jammed them in front of the building and along the long lane leading from the feed road. There wasn't a Democratic sign to be seen. My impression was that most in line had reacted to the scene with a sort of angry humor at the thought that we would be so susceptible to the best saturation money and zealotry could provide.
Having made a phone call to my mom and brother, making sure they're heading out to vote, and having given my wife a call earlier to let her know how the line was looking, I'll need to get down to the paying work soon. It'll be a long night almost without a doubt, and there's scant more I can do now.
Before I go, I caught on the radio that in the wee hours of the morning a higher court in Ohio had overturned a lower court decision and so partisans will be showing up at polling locations to potentially challenge voter eligibility. (The link to which was, thanks once more to Tammy, sitting in my email when I checked.) This is a result of a GOP push purportedly to prevent illegal ballots being cast, while the Democratic party officials in the region see it primarily as an attempt to intimidate first time and minority voters. The Democratic opposition expressed a line of thought echoed by 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judge R. Guy Cole, the dissenting judge in the 2-1 decision. Cole said the Ohioans have the right to vote without the "threat of suppression, intimidation or chaos sown by partisan political operatives," and if voting rights are pitted against the possibility of fraud, the court must err on the side of voters. The majority decision claims there is "strong public interest in permitting legitimate statutory processes to operate to preclude voting by those who are not entitled to vote." Smooth and effective administration of the voting laws means that the rules can't be changed hours before the election, they said, referring to the ruling by the two federal judges on Monday to bar the challengers from polling locations.
Democratic workers in Ohio were reportedly at many polling places first thing today intent on watching for any from the GOP who might attempt to prevent a voter from casting a ballot. Hopefully efforts of this sort, along with higher profile ones such as the one organized by filmmaker Michael Moore, centering on Florida and Ohio, will help.
I've been hearing predictions of the biggest turnout in 40 years. Even just that is heartening.
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