Fighting the Modern Poll Tax

What will it cost you to go to the polls tomorrow? What will it cost you NOT to go?

The 24th Amendment guarantees the right of every American to cast their vote without having to pay a poll tax. In theory. Don't get me wrong; I'm pleased as punch not to be charged a fee at my polling place. But, in this election at least, it will be much easier for the upper class to cast their vote than it will be for members of the working class.

This is particularly true in swing states like mine, where, due to what will likely be record-breaking turnout, we can expect some LONG lines at the polls. The picture is from my early voting on Saturday in Arlington County, Virginia, where it took me four hours to get from the end of the line to my voting booth. Since I work banker's hours, and basically have no life outside of work, giving up a Saturday was not a hardship for me. If I'd decided to vote tomorrow, though, it would have been a bit rougher. My employer is more than happy to give us as much time off to vote as we need. However, I for one don't have enough paid time off to get paid for it (at least not if I want to go to my cousin's wedding in December.) I'd likely have just sucked it up and taken six unpaid hours for the time I would have missed at work tomorrow, even though I can't really afford it.

So that's me. But in watching The Rachel Maddow Show last night, it was confirmed that it's not just me. There are millions of other Americans in a more extreme version of this situation: Working longer, odder hours at multiple jobs, and really depending on the wages or tips that they would earn during these hours. It's going to be much easier for their bosses to take a full day off work to cast their vote. And the longer the line, the more of a hardship it will be.

In Virginia, Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, and the rest of the laundry list of other swing states this year, we can expect that the wait to vote will be far more epic than in true blue or true red states like California and Texas. Though I'm sure their queues will be nothing to sneeze at, they will have a good number of voters who decide to sit it out, feeling like one vote in their state isn't really going to make a difference. Everyone's vote counts. But in this election, and in "purple" states, everyone's vote REALLY counts. Basically, the longer and more daunting the line at our polling place, the more important it is that we stand in it until our vote is cast. Remember, if you're in line by the time your polling place closes, they have to let you vote, even if it takes all night.

In an election where so much of the country would be voting their pocket book, it's especially important that we not let our empty pocket books keep us from voting. The system is currently broken. We need more voting machines and paper ballots in our precincts, to keep people in contested areas from being discouraged from voting. But for those of us who are paying the price at our polling place, this is our chance to cast our vote for the kind of country we'd like to live in. If we all go out together and vote our conscience, hopefully we'll be in good enough economic standing in four or eight years to take the whole day off work to stand in line to vote. Or better yet, we'll have put people in office who will be sure to order a big enough batch of paper ballots that we don't have to give up wages. Tomorrow is our opportunity to fight for all the tomorrows that are to come.