As I write this, we are exactly one week away from Election Day.  In many ways, it seems like only yesterday I was turning in my first piece for this ambitious experiment, MTV’s Street Team ’08.  As this project wraps up and the election draws near, a few things have been rolling around my mind as I watch my state gear up for the big day.  As suggested by this post’s title, my thoughts vary widely in tone.  I’ll start off with the good news before getting to the bad and, unfortunately, this week’s ugly development here in Tennessee. 

The good news is that I found myself standing in line for two hours yesterday, outdoors, on one of the first cold and windy days we’ve seen thus far in the Volunteer State.  As chilly as I was standing around like a fool in shorts and no jacket, I was happy to do so.  I was waiting in line, with countless others, to cast my vote early in Hendersonville, Tennessee, a suburb of Nashville.  The small, brick, one-story building, which was the de-facto polling place, had a line of enthusiastic voters snaked along it’s side, through it’s rear parking lot, and overflowing into the parking lot of the adjacent library.  To my surprise, the line was even longer when I finished.  I had actually moved away from the ‘burbs and into Nashville-proper only a day or two after I could have changed my registration to vote in the city.  About an hour and a half into my wait, when the wind really started kicking up, I admit the luxury of Nashville’s many polling places sounded pretty good.  However, I was proud and happy to see the huge turnout in this one polling center in the ‘burbs where I grew up.  Furthermore, the long process made me feel a little more proud of fulfilling an important part of my civic duty.  I was also pleasantly surprised that in our instant gratification, drive-thru culture, no one was complaining (though I doubt I was the only one silently swearing at the biting wind on occasion.)  In fact, most of the comments I heard focused on how great it was to see such a strong turnout.  It had been the first weekday early voting was available.  However, the poll workers told me that the lines were just as long on the prior two Saturday’s, which were designated for early voting, too.  So, that’s the good news; people are excited, enthusiastic and turning out in record numbers even when voting is less convenient than they are used to.  Now for the bad news…

 "I encourage everyone to be vigilant as they vote and pay close attention to their machines.  There have been anecdotal reports of people seeing their votes “flip” right before their eyes during early voting periods here in Nashville."

The bad news is that none of us who stood in line for hours, during an early voting period (which is supposed to be more convenient), can be sure our votes were properly counted.  This is because we used electronic machines with no paper trail.  I covered this issue in one of my first pieces here and produced a video sometime later.  You can refer to those pieces for more information, but the gist of the problem is that these machines have proven unreliable and susceptible to manipulation.  They do not offer a paper trail, so if the results are disputed, there is no way to go back and count the votes; you can only push the same button and get the same potentially flawed results.  This is unacceptable for something as sacred as the vote, the very foundation of our democracy.  It is heartening to note that Tennessee passed a law requiring optical scan card voting, which offers a paper record.  Unfortunately, the law does not go into effect until 2010.  I encourage everyone to be vigilant as they vote and pay close attention to their machines.  There have been anecdotal reports of people seeing their votes “flip” right before their eyes during early voting periods here in Nashville.  You can go to VotersUnite.org for information regarding what to do if you experience or see any voting irregularities.  You can also click here for step-by-step information regarding what to do if you see electronic machines flip your vote.  So that’s the bad news; time for the ugly.

"There have been moments in this campaign that have gone far beyond the typical gutter politics that are the sad mainstay of American campaigns."

I was hesitant to even write about this, but it’s a national news story that centers in Tennessee, and can serve to open a discussion.  As you may have heard, federal officials arrested two men in west Tennessee and reported that they were devising a very crude plan to assassinate Barack Obama and kill other African-Americans.  The two men, ages 18 and 20, were reportedly motivated by White Supremacist, neo-Nazi beliefs.  Obviously, these are two very sick and disturbed individuals.  Early reports seem to indicate that it is unlikely they would have had the capacity to actually carry out their plans, but it is profoundly disturbing nonetheless.  It is even more disturbing and painful to face this when residing in the state where Martin Luther King, Jr. was tragically killed forty years ago.  I don’t want to give two sick and demented individuals any great power over my psyche or the psyche of our nation as a whole.  Regardless of who wins this election, witnessing our nation’s first viable African-American candidate is a historic time for celebration, regardless of one’s political leanings.  It is naïve, however, to pretend that racial division, as well as the pain, complexity, and cruelty that it manifests, are behind us.  They are not.  I have heard countless people worry and fret for Obama’s safety.  I have heard this expressed from many ages, races, and worried people of all political leanings.  Often the concern is expressed in whispered tones because it’s simply too awful a thought to state in full voice.  It is an ugly reality that this should be a concern, but I am hopeful that if Barack Obama were elected, he will be safe from rogue and disturbed individuals.  There will always be demented people who wish to harm others, especially the powerful, for myriad reasons.  Every President we have ever elected has dealt with this issue.  The technology and methods of today’s security and surveillance are astonishingly effective.  I saw first hand during the presidential debates only a few weeks ago here at Nashville’s Belmont University how incredibly thorough, organized, and well-executed Presidential-level security can be.  No stone was left unturned and not even the most seemingly insignificant detail was spared.  That said, I feel compelled to take a moment to offer a loosely-related closing thought that also falls in the “ugly” category.

I was not hired to write opinion pieces, but I hope my editors will forgive me these last few words. There have been moments in this campaign that have gone far beyond the typical gutter politics that are the sad mainstay of American campaigns.  They have even been launched from the candidates themselves, instead of following the normal procedure of farming out the dirty work to shadowy 527 groups.  Unfounded accusations and innuendo that appeal only to fear and ignorance are not only deplorable; they are dangerous.  One only need read the previous paragraph to see that words and ideas have consequences.  No matter your politics, we are a weaker nation when we seek to divide one another on the basis of fear or allow ourselves to be divided.  As we head to the polls next week to vote for the candidates of our choosing, let us remember that what makes our country great is not simply that we have the freedom of our own opinions and ideas.  What makes us great is that we express them not through war, fighting, and bloodshed, but in a civil manner.  We express them through passionate debate, persuasion, argument, and, finally, the voting booth.  One only has to read a moment of history to see what a fragile luxury this is.  It takes all of us working together, appealing to our better selves, to sustain this delicate democracy.