One (Wo)man, One Vote

Covering the democratic and republican primaries has given me the opportunity to travel across the United States and visit many towns, cities, counties, and states that I would not have on my own. The people I meet in these places have really changed my outlook on the entire election/nomination process. Following the numerous presidential races as an adolescent, I was accustomed to the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary selecting the nominees for both parties. It did not even cross my mind that each state has a primary. I live in the Commonwealth of Virginia and I do not remember any discussion about its primary. As we all know, this has changed.

Every single state will cast a vote and unlike all the previous election cycles in my life-time (a little over two decades), the democratic candidates will campaign vigorously in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and Guam. Watching this phenomenon up close I am witnessing the excitement of people for the elections. The pundits on TV lament on the "long" election season yet they fail to mention that this is exactly how the election process is suppose to be. Everyone should be afforded the right to vote. We live in a media dominated world and thus have been accustomed to short sound bites, flashy graphics, and pundits with their superficial "analysis". The media had declared this race over before a single vote was casted; they had declared this race over after the caucuses in Iowa; they declared the race over after Super Tuesday; and so forth. If the races is over, why are Senator Obama and Senator Clinton still splitting primary states?

Everybody I have met these past five months-from the early primaries to the latter one- want to vote! They want their voices to be heard. Let them vote. For a country that prides herself with the cliche slogan of "one (wo)man one vote", why can't we actually let the process ride itself out? For all the naysayers who claim this long process is hurting the democrats are simply wrong. In Indiana, the chairman of the democratic party was hoping for 800,000 ballots to be casted. Over 1.3 million votes were tallied in their primary. The excitement of the people can only benefit the democratic party and not hurt it.