Where Were You Ten Years Ago?

I was in Florida. I did not travel there to steal the presidential election like many Republicans did; I lived there. In 2000, my family and I lived in Orange Park, Florida, near Jacksonville. I cast my ballot in Clay County, one of many Republican strongholds in the state. Aside from the nearby naval air station, Clay County was pretty rural and very redneck. I was probably one of the few Democratic votes, but cast that vote proudly…I distinctly remember that the lines were very long that day, but things were very organized. Oddly enough, even though Clay County was a bit old-fashioned, the commissioners had obtained optical scanners to read our ballots, so we had none of the “hanging chad” issues that bedeviled other counties in the state. My vote was counted.

The infamous story is well-known. Miami’s Dade County. Al Gore’s retrieval of his concession to Bush. The Republican operatives descending upon the state to spread false claims of voter “fraud.” The lawsuit by the Bush campaign that started it all. The valiant but mis-guided attempt by the Democrats to argue for a selective recount across the state. The decision by the Republican-leaning Supreme Court that – literally – changed history. Wow, those were some tense days. Even then, the Democrats across the country had an inkling that the Supreme Court decision was going to change us – and we were right.

If only Miami’s Dade County had optical scanners. Better yet, if only Gore had won his home state of Tennessee. We never would have heard about hanging chads or the Electoral College, and we would have never known that a part of Florida is actually in the Central time zone. Oh, and we never would have had Bush. Yes, your vote matters, and elections do change history.