The precious right to vote

[LiberalEsto]

I just got home from UU church, all fired up about the preciousness of our democracy and our right to vote.

Because damn it, our right to cast those ballots is shaky these days. I don't trust these electronic cheating machines, which can be pre-programmed to flip votes from one candidate to another. I don't trust our nation's patchwork of voting regulations. I have little faith in election officials, who can decide virtually on a whim whether a person can vote if their middle name is spelled differently on their driver's license than on their voting registration card.

I believe Al Gore and John Kerry are our rightfully elected presidents, and were deprived of their office through cheating and chicanery. And I'm certain the republicans will try to do the same to Barack Obama, although I like to think that Obama is not going to take it lying down and slink away without raising holy hell.

What got me started this morning was the sermon by Myron, our interim minister. It was about our Unitarian Universalist Fifth Principle: the right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large. Or, as we tell our children, our right to vote about things that concern us.

It was a carefully non-partisan sermon, but it centered on the value of our right to cast votes. The minister talked about the struggle that women had in the 19th Century, trying to win the right to vote. He talked about how UU Susan B. Anthony cast a ballot in 1873, even though it was illegal. She was arrested for voting.

This started me thinking about my own grandmother, who was a suffragette in Estonia. She died when I was 2. My mother proudly told me how my grandmother traveled to right-to-vote rallies, only to be followed and physically dragged home by her angry husband.

Compared to Susan B. Anthony and my grandmother, I've had things ridiculously easy my entire voting life. Since 1972, all I've had to do is register, read the sample ballots, go to the polling place and vote.

Since 2000, however, I've lost my faith in the process. I've lost faith that my vote or the votes of others will be counted honestly and accurately. Sure, elections here in blue Montgomery County, Maryland will likely go the way I want. But how about statewide and national elections?

So here's what I want:

WHETHER BARACK OBAMA WINS OR LOSES, I WANT HIM TO RAISE HELL ABOUT ELECTION FRAUD IN OUR COUNTRY. If he's cheated out of victory, I want him and our party to sue the bejeebers out of everyone responsible, including the manufacturers of the machines. I want to see them go broke and go out of business.

AND IF, GODDESS WILLING, OBAMA WINS, I want to see the following:

-- A special commission to examine all cases of voting fraud, and come up with recommendations to put a stop to it.

-- A special prosecutor charged with pursuing all election cheats and making them accountable.

-- A national election law with a single set of voting and registration rules for the entire country.

-- A single national voter registration form.


Why? Because I want to have faith and trust in our American election process. And because I owe my grandmother and her suffragette sisters around the world for this precious right to vote.

:rant: