It’s almost over – one can only hope.
The vulgarity and vitriol injected into this election have created a seething frustration, sparking real honest to goodness fights at protests, at the workplace and among divided families and friends. According to USA Today, school districts in Wisconsin have opted to close schools on Tuesday, a common polling place in order to avoid violence erupting in the halls.
The tension can also be found at your friendly family grocery store.
If you think it’s bad everywhere, it is. The other day while I was in Orlando, Florida – that part of Florida that historically decides presidential elections – I was in a Costco and saw a Trump supporter call a Clinton supporter "a f*cking b*tch," to which she replied, "Go f*ck yourself!" They were just standing in a long line waiting to be checked out when the Clinton supporter started to unload her groceries, to the offense of the Trump supporter who was already checking out. I genuinely got scared and fled the premises.
It’s safe to say we all want this election to end on Tuesday. My fear is it won’t.
As a former news reporter for the NBC station in Tampa, one of my first assignments was the 2000 presidential recount. As I recall, that thing ended in mid-December.
MID-DECEMBER.
It was an experience that seemed surreal: 537 votes deciding the whole enchilada. The recounts would start, then stop and then start yet again. There were more lawyers you ever saw in one place, yelling and fighting for the sanctity each vote – or more like how each one must belong in their respective camps. It was one of the most bizarre, tense, exhausting stories I have ever covered in my life.
Part of the current bad vibes in America is having an impact: Fewer people know whom they want to vote for in the presidential race, with one day to go. With more people making that decision on Election Day, voters need crucial information.
The website myvote.wi.gov/en-us allows voters almost all they need to know on the big day: who’s on the ballot, where you polling place is located, new photo ID requirements, among other important information. Voters can register at their polling place all the way through Election Day, so there are no deadlines you can’t meet. Unless you don’t show up at all – but just remember: This. Is. A. Close. Race.
Let’s escape the haunting recounts and find it somewhere in our hearts to vote despite the crudeness of this experience. Even if you’ve totally had it and aren’t motivated to be a part of the process, at least you’ll be doing your part to simply end it. And when it is all done, we’ll need a group hug.
