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See, Now This Is What I’m Talking About

November 1st, 2004

When I say that minority voters are making a point of going to the polls to vote this time (From Josh Marshall):

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.

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.

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  1. Marc Kaplan
    November 1st, 2004 at 13:52 | #1

    This is a very nice site. I can tell you spend a lot of time on it.

    My prediction: Kerry 294, Bush 244. Kerry will win 49.5% of the popular vote, and 48.7% will go to Bush.

    -Marc

  2. Luis
    November 1st, 2004 at 15:47 | #2

    Wow, very specific! Thanks!

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