Hope and change have been the mantras of this campaign. And regardless of which candidate becomes president-elect late tonight (or in the early hours of tomorrow) every eligible American should participate in that change. Ghandi famously said, "Be the change you wish to see in the world." For today, and for this election, the easiest way to "be the change" is to vote.
In America, we're pretty lucky. We argue (sometimes heatedly) over politics. But rarely does expressing our political beliefs lead to violence and death. The United States isn't perfect — Jim Crow laws and the disenfranchisement of female voters come to mind — but compared to other nations in the modern world, our elections run relatively smoothly.
Every four years on a cold January day, the president-elect swears an oath of office and then parades to the White House to shake hands with the sitting president. In that simple, peaceful moment, executive power is exchanged.
Around the world, the electoral process does not run so peacefully. Millions are denied the right to vote, punished with intimidation or death if they cast a ballot.
Following a disputed election last year, more than 300 civilians died in post-election rioting and violence in Kenya. Early this summer, hundreds were killed in Zimbabwe after incumbent President Robert Mugabe was apparently defeated in a runoff election. In 2003, several coups attempted to oust Hugo Chavez from his presidency in Venezuela. The country's national guard fired into crowds of protesters, and the ensuing strikes and riots left at least 80 dead. Two weeks before parliamentary elections last year, Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated as she left a political rally. Seconds later a suicide bomber killed more than 20 people in Bhutto's entourage.
The examples go on and on, but the conclusion we hope readers draw from this editorial is that our electoral process should never be taken for granted. Voting is the privilege of all Americans, regardless of race, religion, gender or political persuasion, and we're incredibly lucky to live in a nation in which that privilege is peacefully afforded to us.
Yet students seem to have myriad excuses for not voting: being uninformed, long lines at polling sites and pure laziness.
We have yet to hear a reasonable excuse.
Voting is easy, especially in Wisconsin. If you live in campus housing, simply take your student ID to the Alumni Memorial Union. If you live off campus, find your polling place using the map we provided you on the front page of this paper. Take your driver's license and a piece of mail with your address (like a bill or bank statement) to that site.
If you feel uninformed, we've provided you two viewpoints on page five. One urges voting for Republican nominee Sen. John McCain, the other for Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama. Read them, and make up your mind.
Undoubtedly, the lines will be long today. The Brookings Institution estimates voter turnout will top the 64 percent of 2004 and maybe even the record 66 percent turnout set 100 years ago in 1908.
But standing in line seems a small price to pay to exercise a fundamental right guaranteed by the Constitution — a right not ensured to voters in other nations.
Go vote today. Vote for yourself and your rights. Vote for earlier generations that could not. Vote for the nations that devolve into violence when ballots are cast. Vote for the people of those nations who look to America as a beacon of democracy and hope.