As a citizen of this crumbling republic, I consider the right to vote as precious as any right that I have. It bothers me that people don't take this seriously. I don't understand why more people don't vote. I understand the reasons, but I don't really understand the mentality.

It should be the case that regardless of what party you support (I'm an Independent supporting John Kerry), we as a country should be doing everything in our power to make sure as many people as possible vote. Registration should be an easy simple process. Voting should uniform across the country. Every effort should be made to make sure that everyone who wants to votes and all votes are counted accurately.

This is why it's so disturbing to see anyone or any party do anything to try to stop, intimidate or deny people from voting. I had a problem with the Gore campaign not wanting to count some military absentee ballots and not asking for a complete recount in Florida instead of just in a few key counties. I had a problem with Kathryn Harris dereliction of duty as an election official. And I have a real problem with what the NYT reported over the weekend about the GOP's plan to challenge voters at the polls in Ohio:

Republican Party officials in Ohio took formal steps yesterday to place thousands of recruits inside polling places on Election Day to challenge the qualifications of voters they suspect are not eligible to cast ballots.

and the BBC report of voter intimidation plans in Florida:

A secret document obtained from inside Bush campaign headquarters in Florida suggests a plan - possibly in violation of US law - to disrupt voting in the state's African-American voting districts

When it's obvious that one party is doing everything they can to register new voters and the other party is doing everything they can to deny people the right to vote, you have wonder why anyone of conscious would stand up for the party of subversion. If the Republicans can only win by minimizing turnout and keeping people away from the polls, then what is the point of being a citizen in this so-called democracy?