The calm before the vote

By all indications, voter turnout tomorrow is going to be high, perhaps setting records. California's secretary of state, for instance, predicted last week that 73 percent of that state's registered voters will cast ballots.

After literally decades of hearing complaints about how apathetic they are, Americans may now have a renewed sense of urgency about democracy and their sacred right to exercise a franchise. That is fantastic news.

Dozens of reasons are being offered for this. One is that people who are poor and disadvantaged and who live in states that figured heavily in the 2000 election (Florida, for instance) have a renewed sense of entitlement because they feel some people are denying them a voice. Another is that conservative voters have been energized by key issues (for instance, 11 states, including Utah, have anti-gay marriage measures on the ballot).

On both the left and right, people are predicting victories that will prove pollsters wrong. And between those extremes, most Americans are simply hoping that the precious democratic tradition in this country will not be taken hostage by a horde of attorneys looking to blow every whiff of a scandal into a hurricane.

You may notice that there is nothing overtly political on this page today — no letter to the Readers' Forum attacking a candidate or urging voters to one side or the other; no political cartoon taking a partisan shot. Our tradition has been to cut off such things on the Sunday before an election. Monday is the calm before the great day of decision.

We are fully aware that life outside is anything but calm — that political ads still dominate the airwaves and that campaigns are going to be working phones and pressing flesh right up until polls close tomorrow evening. But we hope the lack of political noise on this page today stands as a symbol for what ought to go on inside the heads of each voter.

This is a day to contemplate the enormous responsibility of self-government. It is a time to give thanks for the precious gifts of freedom and liberty.

Election seasons are filled with vicious rumors, verbal attacks, accusations and innuendo. Emotions seem to build to a crescendo that will peak probably sometime tonight, if the past is any indication. It has been this way almost since the very start of the republic. It would behoove each voter to take a step back and look at the candidates and issues one last time with an emphasis on an intellectual, rather than purely emotional, evaluation.

Then go out tomorrow and vote the way you feel is best for Utah and the nation.