The latest CNN/USA Today/ Gallup presidential poll is in, showing Texas Gov. George Bush leading Vice President Al Gore 47 percent to 45 percent, with Ralph Nader at 4 percent. Almost 3 percent of the 2,386 likely voters contacted were still undecided as of Sunday night.
With the news, Republicans are no doubt feeling a tad confident, Democrats are a bit bummed and Naderites are hoping the Election Fairy brings an extra 1 percent for federal funding. (Libertarian, Socialist, Constitution and Reform Party backers have to wait four more years for their voice to make a measurable impact.)
Of course, the numbers don’t mean squat, and not solely because of the +/- 2 percent margin of error. The numbers are irrelevant because people across the country still need to, as Rev. Jesse Jackson told hundreds of University students last week, “take [their] souls to the polls.”
In Oregon, with its vote-by-mail system, tens of thousands people have already voted and are waiting to see if their choices won. Yet, when it comes to voting, the theme should mimic that oft-used sports phrase: “It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game.” In America, playing the game means voting, and the right to vote ought to be honored with the act of actually voting.
So, if you haven’t already done so, take out your voters’ pamphlets, get your ballot ready, find a poking implement and punch away. Then tonight, you can watch with true interest as the results roll in. And if local issues don’t quite quench your political thirst, keep an eye on these issues from other states:
* In Alaska, voters will be considering Proposition 5, which would legalize marijuana ownership, use and distribution for people age 18 and older. In addition, it would: automatically release people convicted in state court of marijuana crimes; destroy all criminal records of marijuana activities; set up an advisory panel to consider paying restitution to those convicted of marijuana crimes; allow prosecution of those driving under the influence of marijuana; ban mandatory marijuana testing and prohibit Alaska from aiding federal agencies in marijuana prosecutions. That’s a whole bale of marijuana legislation.
* California is also considering drug legislation, but this time the supporters of medical marijuana have moved on to drug treatment. Instead of putting first- and second-time drug offenders in jail, Proposition 36 would provide probation and drug treatment. Martin Sheen, who has been arrested for more liberal causes than all of Eugene’s anarchists put together, has been a harsh critic of the proposition, saying that his son Charlie Sheen needed incarceration to straighten up.
* Nebraska’s Initiative 416 would not only amend that state’s constitution to recognize a marriage as strictly between one man and one woman, but would also invalidate same-sex unions or domestic partnerships performed in any other state. Any couples who’ve received a same-sex union in Vermont might want to watch the results before moving to Nebraska.
* Massachusetts’s Question 5 would establish a statewide single-payer health care system, something Hillary Clinton couldn’t achieve nationally. Layers of HMO administration bureaucracy would be eliminated, health decisions would made by doctors and nurses, and the extra money would be used to provide health care for every Massachusetts citizen.
The race for control of the U.S. Congress should also be entertaining. If you believe the campaigns for president, every branch of the government is up for grabs this year, and it will all be decided, more or less, today.
An editorial in Saturday’s edition of The New York Times by Verlyn Klinkenborg gives another reason why today is so important:
“An ideal republic forms in the heads of some voters. Others vote their pocketbooks, their prejudices. Some of us vote the way our parents did, the ways we wish our children might. We vote on single interests and on abstract principles, for reasons that are sometimes cogent, sometimes not. Even if there were no more pressing reasons to vote, there is always the one inviolable reason, which is to preserve the possibility of voting.”
How will the popular vote turn out today? Click here to find out.
The Emerald editorial board can be reached at [email protected]