Romney started out ahead early in the evening. The rural, sparsely-populated, republican-voting counties reported promptly. We had to wait several hours for returns from the key states of Florida, Ohio, and Virginia. By the time those states finally came through, the election had already been called for Obama, though these states clinched a solid victory.
Here in Northern Virginia, around 9:00 p.m., I saw on the TV a high school corridor in Prince William County, jam-packed with voters waiting patiently in line. Almost all of them were African-American. Practically all of Virginia’s rural Republican districts posted returns on the dot. But we were told fairly early in the evening that Virginia was suspending reports until all the ballots had been cast. The polls closed at the early hour of 7:00. in economically disadvantaged and Democratic-voting areas of Virginia, people had to wait in line until 11:00 to be able to vote. Those who work for wages could only go to the polls after work hours, and many of them would have had to hurry to get to the polling places by 7:00. They had to stand in line for four hours to get their chance to vote. It meant that much to them.
This is what democracy is truly all about. We could not have a functional democracy without staunch souls like these citizens. Working people, poor people, and people who overcame all kinds of obstacles to cast their votes like the woman in labor who voted first and then went to give birth. These are the true champions of American democracy, and I salute them from my heart.
an Ohioan mentioned to me that he had nine pages of things to vote on, including 3 pages of judges and at least a page of ballot propositions. Good grief!