A truly amazing thing is happening in Atlanta, GA right now. Yesterday's local news featured the loooong lines to vote in some voting places in Atlanta with voters waiting 7-8 hours to vote. Voters in line at 7:00 p.m. are allowed to stay and vote--often not leaving until midnight.
Assurances were made that today would be different. In some locations it isn't. Today, the local news cameras and reporters turned out and interviewed those who had just voted. Two voters they interviewed caused me to choke up.
More below the fold:
The first voter had waited over 8 hours yesterday and was turned away when her name was not on the voting list. Undaunted she left and returned today with her copy of her voter registration card. She got back into the back of the line and waited another 4 hours. This time when she was told no, she refused to take no for an answer, and finally, after due deliberation she was allowed to cast her vote. It took her two days to vote. When asked by a reporter why it was so important to her, she told of how this was easy compared to what her grandparents had gone through to vote in the Jim Crowe South. She thought of them as she waited in line and she felt a real closeness to them, even though they had been gone for years.
The second voter was an elderly AA man. When the reporter asked him if the 7 hour wait had been worth it. His eyes filled with tears and he said, "It was worth every minute. I have waited my entire life for this."
After this local segment of the news, there was an interview with Saxby Chambliss. He was explaining to the camera that he is not worried about his Senatorial re-election because republicans "always wait until the last minute to vote." If republicans this year are excited enough to wait in the lines I am seeing on my TV, I'll eat my hat.
Here, in my state, the birthplace of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. this election is the election of the ages. Although he is worth waiting in line to vote for, the people I saw interviewed were casting more than a vote for Senator Obama. They were casting a ballot that opens up the windows on a musty basement of hateful Jim Crowe, and filling it instead with the fresh air of hope.
I am so thankful to be alive in this election cycle.