It's been ugly, really ugly. And now I have a stomach ache. I hope that after tomorrow, we will know the results of this election and it will be over for a least another four years. And I hope that the election is successful... that voter fraud, while I know it won't be eliminated, will be kept in check. Just this afternoon, Clarence, my next door neighbor, asked me if I had voted yet. I told him the line at Randall's near where I work was too long on Friday and I had decided to wait til Tuesday. He said he was voting tomorrow too. He had tried to vote last week, but they said they couldn't find him in the system and he wouldn't be able to vote.
WHAT?
He's over 70 years old. He's lived in Austin probably longer than I've been alive. He's lived in the same neighborhood, in the same house. He has the same Texas drivers' license that the rest of us do.
Oh, but he's black.
And smart too. So he came home and did his research and found his voter ID card and tomorrow when he shows up at the pools, he'll have a pad and paper with him to record the names and details of any situation that arises when he makes a second attempt to vote.
One of my girlfriends from Ragtime (shameless plug: 10 performances left!) applied for her absentee ballot, she never got it. She called and bugged them again and again. A neighbor finally brought it to her door, it had been delivered to the wrong house just last week. She wouldn't have gotten it at all had her neighbor returned it to sender.
She's black too.
WHAT?
He's over 70 years old. He's lived in Austin probably longer than I've been alive. He's lived in the same neighborhood, in the same house. He has the same Texas drivers' license that the rest of us do.
Oh, but he's black.
And smart too. So he came home and did his research and found his voter ID card and tomorrow when he shows up at the pools, he'll have a pad and paper with him to record the names and details of any situation that arises when he makes a second attempt to vote.
One of my girlfriends from Ragtime (shameless plug: 10 performances left!) applied for her absentee ballot, she never got it. She called and bugged them again and again. A neighbor finally brought it to her door, it had been delivered to the wrong house just last week. She wouldn't have gotten it at all had her neighbor returned it to sender.
She's black too.
