Casting ballots just the beginning

If predictions are accurate, today’s voter turnout will be as robust as anything we’ve seen in years. Hurray for that. But that it should happen at the end of a campaign distinguished by vicious negativism and a bipartisan abuse of truth takes the luster off the comfort we ought to feel.

Expect the antics to continue right up to 8 p.m. when the polls close. Last-minute voters will be coming home to automated campaign calls and the answering machine.

Then what?

By tomorrow, presumably, we’ll know who our leaders will be, from president down to the state and local level, and we can start figuring out how to heal a cleaved nation.

We’re not without hope in that regard.

Four years ago, the presidential election produced a set of circumstances that would have touched off a constitutional crisis in many parts of the world. Not only did victory go to the candidate who got fewer popular votes, it happened only after accusations – by both sides – of fraudulent practices at the polls. And it happened in a state presided over by the winner’s brother. And it was decided, after a month of controversy, by five out of nine judges who are appointed for life.

In many countries, that would be a recipe for civil war. In America, we argued and fumed, but the country carried out a peaceful transition of power and moved on. Not without our memories, of course.

Political partisans – not only the candidates and their strategists but also the heavily financed interest groups who conduct independent advertising campaigns – came away from the 2000 experience with a renewed conviction not to be caught short in 2004. As a result, voters are sandwiched between toxic political messages and, in some locales, underhanded methods that use fear, impatience and confusion to discourage certain constituencies from voting.

In 2000, Americans modeled a democracy that demonstrated implicit faith in its own structure, allowing a legitimate outcome to emerge despite clumsy execution. In 2004, we have an opportunity to show that as voters we can rise above the superficiality of the campaign and make informed decisions. It’s to be hoped that by 2008 we can find a way to explore the common ground where American values lie neglected while political energies are exhausted on the ideological margins.

None of that can happen, however, unless citizens become engaged, not just on election day but throughout the year. There’s more to it than voting, but that’s an essential element. If you haven’t voted yet, you have until 8 p.m. Don’t stop to answer the phone.