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Is that fair? What if last month's economic collapse had happened, say,
this week, and one group of Americans picked a president pre-crash
while the rest of us made our choices under sharply different
circumstances?
Maryland residents will vote next week not only on slot machines but
also on early voting -- a constitutional change that would allow anyone
to cast a ballot in the two weeks leading up to Election Day.
But there's a much more important reason why early voting is a giant
step backward: Voting is a proud expression of who we are and of our
belief in our system and our future. It is an individual act but a
communal experience. It is a statement we make about ourselves, to
ourselves, but also to each other. It is how we say, "I am part of
something larger, and my voice matters, and so does yours." When we
chip away at that communal experience, we diminish democracy.
Either way, early voting shouldn't be a partisan issue. The real debate
should be about whether convenience is more important than the
unique power of Election Day to pull us out of our atomized lives and
put us in one room with our neighbors so that we see, if only briefly,
just what we are voting about.
In 1990, I covered the first free vote held in East Germany after more
than half a century of Nazi and Communist rule. Seeing people weep
with joy as they received their first ballot taught me a lesson. "What an
exceptionally good feeling," said a church deacon, Alexander
Sonnenberg, after he voted. "This was the first chance I ever had to
take a bit of responsibility for the development of democracy."
We are a determined people who have made sure that no one prevents
us from casting our votes in open, free elections. It would be a shame
to diminish our own freedom.