B E B E R E

"The Poor Voter on Election Day."

To-day, of all the weary year,
A king of men am I.
To-day, alike are great and small,
The nameless and the known;
My palace is the people's hall,
The ballot-box my throne!
The rich is level with the poor,
The weak is strong to-day;
And sleekest broadcloth counts no more
Than homespun frock of gray.
To-day let pomp and vain pretence
My stubborn right abide;
I set a plain man's common sense
Against the pedant's pride.
The wide world has not wealth to buy
The power in my right hand!

-John Greenleaf Whittier
(via Andrew Sullivan.)

***

Oh!

At the Earle Brown Elementary School in Brooklyn Center, one woman got to skip to the front of along line because she was in labor, election judge Nancy Carlson said.

``Two minutes labor and she's still in line to vote,'' Carlson said.

Once the woman cast her ballot, she was put into a wheelchair and carted away, Carlson said.

(again, via Andrew.)