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Four more fears

mug Heather Wahle
Columnist

While some suffered election depression, others reveled in their success. Bush is given a second term and the 2004 election results bring up new issues and old fears.

In a state of war, any presidential opponent is at a disadvantage. Many feel that changing presidents may show weakness in the eyes of the enemy. We cannot fully assess the international opinions of America. It is unlikely we would be more apt to fall under attack with a president change. This would not demonstrate inconsistency; it would demonstrate democracy in action.

However, America has been portrayed as vulnerable and fear was used successfully throughout this political campaign. As long as the threat of attack was prevalent, many were cautious of an administration change. We started a war with one president, so it would seem logical to end the war with that same president to demonstrate a solid nation. But how likely is it that we will end the war in four years? At least with Kerry’s plan of systematic rebuilding and abstraction from Iraq it seemed plausible that the end of the war was near. Now, it seems as if the Bush administration has more to prove.

The deficit has risen from a projected surplus at the end of Clinton’s term—not mildly but at a record high of $3.2 trillion. Justification of this is because of an economic downfall and the war. Bush’s plan is to cut the deficit by $1 trillion over five years, leaving $2.2 trillion. This hardly seems possible when the current administration has failed to veto spending initiatives and raises federal discretionary spending by approximately 13 percent.

A Pro-Life amendment to the constitution could be the next Bush initiative. The president has already succeeded in banning partial-birth abortion and has publicized his intent to discourage the procedure. He plans to discourage abortion by advocating abstinence, marriage and adoption.

These options narrow the debate from a social issue to a form of birth control.

No exceptions were made in the partial- birth abortion ban; the procedure was often utilized for protection of the woman’s health or other extreme circumstances.

The 2004 presidential election brings new issues to the voting process. Waiting in line for a couple hours to vote is a small price to pay when democracy works. However, when voters are turned away from the polls because they are at the wrong location they feel discouraged and may not vote at all.

Hopefully, voters stood in line at the election commission building in Denver for at least an hour. Voting officials told the crowd they were not at a regular polling precinct and to refer to the list of locations to find the correct place to vote. When the crowd questioned whether they could still vote at this particular location they where given a reluctant yes.

Yet, when some potential voters reached the front of the massive line they were given provisional ballots. Provisional ballots must be assessed by an election official to determine if the ballot is necessary before it is counted. Although you may have waited for hours to vote, submitting a provisional ballot does not necessarily mean you voted. Instead, it means you attempted to vote.

Early voting programs, now in 30 states, have become an easy way to avoid lines and save time. Still, more attention should be made to election day voting preparation. This election saw more voters than any other in history. Hopefully, this will continue and large amounts of the American population will be motivated to vote.

With 60 percent of the newly registered turning out to vote, the polls were obviously not prepared for the crowds. More workers need to be available to assist the public and more electronic voting booths need to be provided to the voting precincts. This will encourage more voters to wait in the lines and lead to the most accurate representation of the population.

Four more years can seem like an immense amount of time with fears like these. But stay positive and out of Canada. After all, 2008 is just around the corner.

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