Eh...Who Really Cares Anyway?

Or "HEY HEY...HO HO...APATHY HAS GOTTA GO!"

I've read countless mainstream media articles over the last two weeks about how paranoid/crazy anyone who thinks there has been any vote fraud/error of a large enough quantity to make a difference in the final tally of Ohio must be. There message: President Bush won...now get over it.

Lost on the supposed journalists we currently have in this country is that voting is a sacred right in America. Whether the end result of the election would or would not change, any reports of lost votes or incorrect official tallies of votes should be front page news.

We're already an apathetic nation. I submit to you that most of the registered voters that stay home on Election Day do so because of apathy. "Eh, who cares? If Candidate A gets in, it won't change my life overnight." Or...as is universally accepted..."Who cares? My vote won't make a difference anyway!"

When the media tries to portray itself as fair, balanced, and rational in saying, "there are some anomalies in the voting, but it wouldn't have made a difference, so just let it go, people," do you think this increases or decreases voter apathy?

If there was one e-voting machine that lost 4000 votes (crazy idea, eh)...but it didn't make a difference in the results of the election...how important would you feel that was?

Now...imagine it was the machine you recorded YOUR VOTE on.

If there was a college campus that served as a voting precinct for all of the students and a good portion of off-campus locals that, for all of the voters registered for that precinct, only had TWO VOTING MACHINES (resulting in waiting on line for HOURS to vote), how important would you feel that was?

Now...imagine YOU had to vote in that precinct, had been waiting for an hour and a half and had to make the decision to wait longer to vote or avoid being late (risking losing your job or at least drawing your boss's ire)?

I can give more examples...but wouldn't you want someone out there to care about counting your vote whether or not it would make a difference in the end results? If for nothing else, at least for your peace of mind?