What if today were election day?

What if this day, this Tuesday, were election day and not next Tuesday?

Would voting be extended in the states affected by Sandy? In states where 7.5 million are without power.

Or would the electoral process just have to “suck it up”? Just the way it sucks up the disconnect between the popular vote and the electoral college vote.

And who might have benefited under the hypothetical scenario that would have laid Sandy's devastation on top of voting day? My guess is that those who typically suffer from stress and live marginally anyway would be all the more stressed and marginalized by the storm. They would be less likely to vote.

Another guess is that they would be primarily Democrats. Would Pennsylvania actually go Republican? What about New York?

I doubt the one percent would be affected at all under this scenario. But, hypothetical situations aside, Mitt Romney, who portrayed 47percent of the population as self-described victims, may now have to recalculate his estimate. The nation suddenly has a whole lot more victims, REAL victims, and is going to have to spend a lot more money helping to get them back on their feet.

My guess is that they will still be victims a week from today...on the real election day.

So is this little hypothetical worth considering? I think so. Contrary to the impression the news media give us, disasters don’t fit neatly into news cycles. They go on for months and even years. How are things in Joplin, Missouri, these days? What about Haiti?

A week from today you can bet things will be a whole lot different along the Sandy’s path of destruction, and those differences will change how people vote...if, that is, they can get to the polls to vote at all.

The message from a "Night of Terror"

Today I received the following compelling e-mail about the "Night of Terror, Nov. 15, 1917."

I was unaware of this atrocity. The e-mail was even more powerful because of the photographs of the victims. You can read determination and courage in their faces.

We should remember that even more recently in our history African Americans, seeking the very same rights, were subjected to similar and worse violence by the authorities.

The sender intended the e-mail for all who don't plan to vote, for whatever reason. It is particularly aimed at women, but it seems obvious that the story should be shared with all.



This is the story of our Mothers and Grandmothers who lived only 90 years ago. Remember, it was not until 1920 that women were granted the right to go to the polls and vote.

The women were innocent and defenseless, but they were jailed nonetheless for picketing the White House, carrying signs asking for the vote.

And by the end of the night, they were barely alive.

Forty prison guards wielding clubs and their warden's blessing went on a rampage against the 33 women wrongly convicted of 'obstructing sidewalk traffic.'


Lucy Burns. They beat Lucy Burns, chained her hands to the cell bars above her head and left her hanging for the night, bleeding and gasping for air.











Dora Lewis. They hurled Dora Lewis into a dark cell, smashed her head against an iron bed and knocked her out cold. Her cell mate, Alice Cosu, thought Lewis was dead and suffered a heart attack.







Additional affidavits describe the guards grabbing, dragging, beating, choking, slamming, pinching, twisting and kicking the women.

Thus unfolded the 'Night of Terror' on Nov. 15, 1917, when the warden at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia ordered his guards to teach a lesson to the suffragists imprisoned there because they dared to picket Woodrow Wilson's White House for the right to vote.

For weeks, the women's only water came from an open pail. Their food--all of it colorless slop--was infested with worms.

Alice Paul. When one of the leaders, Alice Paul, embarked on a hunger strike, they tied her to a chair, forced a tube down her throat and poured liquid into her until she vomited. She was tortured like this for weeks until word was smuggled out to the press.






Mrs Pauline Adams in the prison garb she wore while serving a 60 day sentence. Last week, I went to a sparsely attended screening of HBO's movie 'Iron Jawed Angels.' It is a graphic depiction of the battle these women waged so that I could pull the curtain at the polling booth and have my say.






Miss Edith Ainge, of Jamestown, New York
















I am ashamed to say I needed the reminder. All these years later, voter registration is still my passion. But the actual act of voting had become less personal for me, more rote. Frankly, voting often felt more like an obligation than a privilege. Sometimes it was inconvenient.

(Berthe Arnold)








My friend Wendy, who is my age and studied women's history, saw the HBO movie, too. When she stopped by my desk to talk about it, she looked angry. She was—with herself.

'One thought kept coming back to me as I watched that movie,' she said. 'What would those women think of the way I use, or don't use, my right to vote? All of us take it for granted now, not just younger women, but those of us who did seek to learn.'

The right to vote, she said, had become valuable to her 'all over again.' HBO released the movie on video and DVD. Conferring over ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution at National Woman's Party headquarters, Jackson Place , Washington , D.C.

Left to right: Mrs. Lawrence Lewis, Mrs. Abby Scott Baker, Anita Pollitzer, Alice Paul, Florence Boeckel, Mabel Vernon (standing, right))

It is jarring to watch Woodrow Wilson and his cronies try to persuade a psychiatrist to declare Alice Paul insane so that she could be permanently institutionalized.

And it is inspiring to watch the doctor refuse. Alice Paul was strong, he said, and brave. That didn't make her crazy.

The doctor admonished the men: 'Courage in women is often mistaken for insanity.'

Please, if you are so inclined, pass this on to all the women you know. We need to get out and vote and use this right that was fought so hard for by these very courageous women.

Whether you vote Democratic, Republican or Independent party - remember to vote.

Democracy in Action — sort of

My friend John McCarthy has sent this link, which shows ballot evidence of folks struggling with, or screwing up, their right to vote in Minnesota.

The ballots reveal weird, but not entirely surprising voter behavior.

Among the conclusions to be drawn are:

• Think before you mark your ballot.
• Wash your hands before voting.
• Don't idly rest your pen on the ballot while you ponder your decision.
• It's not wise to use the ballot to act out just how clever you are.

New Oregon voters may be disenfranchised by flawed registration procedure

The New York Times is reporting on exactly the voter registration problem I wrote about here the other day.

In a story running Thursday, the Times says a flawed registration procedure relying on social security information is a problem in swing states, but, based on my own experience registering Oregon voters, I believe it is also a problem here.

If would-be registrants (or those re-registering to change their addresses) don't have their driver's license or driver's license number with them, the default seems to be to provide the last four digits of their Social Security number.

Turns out the default is causing all kinds of problems because social security records aren't matching with new addresses, resulting in disqualifications.

The vague language on the Oregon registration form is likely causing the same kind of problems. I know it confused me as a volunteer registrar, until I had a heart to heart with the clerk at the Multnomah County Elections office. Now I am not using the Social Security default with people I register who don't have their driver's license numbers with them. Instead, I'm sending them home with blank forms to fill out when they can include the license numbers.

Meanwhile, I strongly urge those who have registered or re-registered recently to check to make sure their new registrations are valid. The number to call in Multnomah County is (503) 988-3720. To check on-line to see whether you are registered go here.

Spread the word!