hans.gerwitz

In about a week, Missouri will offi­cially certify John McCain as their pres­i­dential candidate of choice, losing their bell and becoming just another wether.

The state’s shift toward conser­vatism has been noted by many. Theories abound about causes, from progressive drain (which I hadn’t yet contributed to, I voted as a St. Louisian this last time) to racism to closer socioe­co­nomic alignment with the South.

The rural vs. urban dichotomy performed as expected. The voter turnout distri­b­ution isn’t partic­u­larly surprising; minority urban voters are known to turn out in lower numbers. But after a campaign expected to draw them to the polls, the “usual” distri­b­ution was a bit unexpected.

It was clear on election night that it would end up close, so when Marc Aminder tweeted about long lines I began to fear resource gerry­man­dering (which would be more subtle than redis­tricting). Most reports brought comfort, though, that voters were patient.

But even if every voter in Velda City stood their ground, how many throughout the state gave up because their polling place was ill-​​equipped, or in a dangerous neigh­borhood? (When I voted in person, I left the relative sanc­tuary of my yuppie loft neigh­borhood for a disin­te­grating old community center on an intim­i­dating block of housing projects. I know neighbors who refused to wander that direction.) Or were any neophyte voters swayed by misleading messages and rumors? Even I just about gave up on casting my absentee ballot, consid­ering how confusing the messages about nota­rization were; the envelope, web site, and included instruc­tions used completely different language and need­lessly singled out first-​​time voters, felons, &c. (Fidelity came through with conve­nient notary services, but I doubt most voters are so fortunate.)

With a difference of only 3,903 votes of 2,925,205 cast, even subtle dissua­sions might have tipped the scales. If the Presidential election had been decided by Missouri’s elec­torates, the attention to these concerns would be white-​​hot. As it stands, does anyone care?