VOTE!

I know it is a cliche', but I am going to say anyway what you already know. Vote. It is important.

Lots of folks have died to give you the right to vote. Lots more have died in other countries for want of what you have, the right to have your say. Vote for them. People you have known and loved in your lifetime were excluded from the right to vote because they weren't white or weren't male. Vote for them.

People, including the military and the foreign service, are STILL serving, STILL sacrificing, STILL dying, for your right to vote. Twenty-nine years ago today, on November 4, 1979, a group of Iranian students took over our embassy in Tehran and held 52 diplomats hostage for 444 days. Those diplomats were serving for you, serving you and your right to vote. (You can read more about that and see the names of the hostages on Diplopundit.) Vote for them too.

Even if the person you support doesn't win, honor the fact that you get to have a say because so many have fought for it before you. Please don't throw that away.

Disenfranchised

If you were in the DC area yesterday, you know that it was an absolute zoo. An ice storm came in that apparently caught all the highway folks by surprise, meaning none of the roads got treated in time. A subsequent twenty-car pileup closed one of the interstates (and there were lots more smaller crashes), forcing traffic to go everywhere else, including the streets near our place. I was home in bed but could see the really nasty traffic from my bedroom window.

M left work at about 5 to go vote. Her bus finally gave up at about 6:30 and let people out near the Pentagon. She walked, in the ice, from the Pentagon to the Air Force Memorial. She called me, and I came to get her, knowing the traffic going toward DC was not bad and she'd at least be in a warm car. It took us until 8 pm to get home...we only live 5 miles from the Department.

And of course, all of that meant that she didn't get to vote. Virginia decided not to extend polling hours even though it was clear that lots of folks couldn't make it in time because of the traffic and weather. Maryland kept the polls open until 9:30...I guess they recognize the importance of letting people have their say. Too bad Virginia doesn't.

My ability to vote was not affected by the weather and traffic...I am registered in my home state, which is NOT Virginia.