This Election Is Too Important

It's the first Tuesday in November, and you are trying to figure out how you can fit voting into your day. You have a job where your boss isn't too happy about giving people time off, so you think maybe, just maybe, you can fit it in after you finish work at 6:30 p.m. You take the bus to the closest stop to your new polling place, which recently changed. When you show up, the line stretches down the block. "Three hours," you hear someone in front of you say.

You make the decision that this election is too important. You can't skip it. But others are getting out of line: they have to get home for their kids; it's about to rain; they say that their vote won't matter. You've been in line for an hour when the polls close. Folks start to get out of line when you hear volunteers state, "If you're in line, you can vote! Please stay in line!" After another hour of waiting, there are rumblings that one of the two voting machines just broke down.