October 2004

I know a lot of you will be volunteering in various electoral capacities on Tuesday, we'll have an open thread for you to post your reports of what's going on around town. We'll also post any news updates we get from the local Board of Elections there. That thread will open along with the polling places at 6:30 am.

And after the polls close (7:30 pm) The Town of Carrboro has invited us to come watch the returns. As usual, Carrboro is the place to be!

Area residents are encouraged to come downtown to watch election returns starting at 7:30pm. Carrboro restaurants and bars will be offering various drink and food specials. As of press time participating restaurants and bars include the Orange County Social Club, Acme Food and Beverage, Tyler's, and The Spotted Dog. In addition to drink and food specials, these establishments will all provide TV coverage of election returns.

From: Chapel Hill Herald; Saturday, October 30, 2004

The 2000 election was a scandal or, perhaps more accurately, a crime of historic proportions. According to investigative reporter Greg Palast, fully half of the rejected ballots that year, about a million in total, were cast by African Americans. This despite the fact that blacks comprise only 12 percent of the U.S. population.

While we may hope that this disenfranchisement does not recur, it is an unfortunate fact that barriers to voting remain prevalent in many areas that are home to minorities. According to Palast, few of tens of thousands of African-Americans who were improperly removed from voter rolls in 2000 have been returned to them.

For most of us, it is hard to reconcile ourselves to the fact that there are political actors in our nation who do not believe in the right to have one's vote counted. What could be more basic to American democracy than the right to vote?