Why I hate election day.

No, in fact, this was not an assigned blog post/essay.

I hate election day. I have for a long time. Its a day that most of America should have off, simply to keep the background anxiety level of the streets to a minimum.

Everyone is talking about it. Its everywhere.

Now don't get me wrong. I went and voted this morning. I was raised to believe that the highest form of service to my country that I could do was to vote at every opportunity. I still, oddly enough, believe that. Military service is a close second that I will never be able to give. I believe that voting is a duty and a right. And yes, I placed duty first, because if one does not perform this duty, the right can be stripped away,

Its this very thing that I fear.

In 2004, I was a poll watcher for the Democratic Party of Clay County Florida. I went and watched at the poll for any funny business. What I saw disgusted me. I saw black people who had been turned away from polling place after polling place. They'd been shuffled around, being told that they had to vote here or there. One young woman, a white girl with a black baby on her hip, had been to 5 other polling places and heard the same story at each. Each time she was told that she wasn't on the books, asked what her address was, and sent somewhere else. She blew up as the attendant who was "helping" her told her to go back to the poll at which she started.

Then there was the modem on the machine. The phone had been ringing in the kitchen of the polling place (it was in a church rec center). A gentleman who I (and the person who was doing the watching with also thought) was a Republican poll watcher went and answered it. He was gone for about 10 minutes. He came back and sat down. At the end of the night, we found out that he was actually the tech specialist for the county elections board. We found this out as he dashed out of the building with the modem to the counting machine, after the phone line supposedly wasn't working. This machine, nor any part of it, was supposed to leave the sight of the polling place supervisor. One of the people who was working at the polls that day looked at the phone jack. It had gum in it.

This morning, I heard a radio report as I was leaving my doctor's office. I haven't been able to verify this report, but the gentleman on the radio said that reports were coming in from Miami FL, in the 103rd Congressional District, that the polling lines were being segregated.

Those who tell you that election stealing is a myth drummed up by conspiracy theorists are trying to distract you. I watched it happen in 2004. I really hope it doesn't happen in 2008.

Sadly, I'm not willing to hold my breath.

This level of anxiety and high emotion are why I hate election day.