First off, a great story about the tremendous voter protection work we did in Florida (patting self on back):
For nearly a month, Zeigler has worked with five volunteers to help voters in five counties whose registrations had not met the state's verification law, better known as the "no match, no vote" law. In Duval County alone, there were 258. Zeigler is one of the people who has worked on election-protection efforts in seven swing states, sponsored by the nonprofit Common Cause.
But the big story today is about Obama, of course, and the incredible moment in American history and American democracy. Indeed, we have many problems to solve and a ton of work to do, but yesterday's numbers tell a promising story: over
130 million votes cast, a turnout over 62% that is
the highest in at least 44 years, led by the historic level of
young voter turnout. And, of course, the first African-American president in our history.
One of the untold stories of this election was the lengthy, and often under-the-radar, work by the Election Protection coalition that we were a part of -- winning court battles, organizing on the ground, and preventing potential election problems in the months and years before Election Day. Folks like our Florida team did a tremendous job of making sure every voter had a chance to cast a ballot that counted.
We still have too much big money in our politics, too many deceptive practices in our elections, and too few companies controlling too many major media outlets. We have a lot to do to continue to mold this beacon of democracy -- but yesterday was a big step forward in many, many ways.
