No matter who wins today, there will still be important issues to pursue. Voting integrity is at risk in many ways across the land. Voters are being disenfranchised by purges, black box machines, identification laws, all of which must be challenged and investigated. We have a lot of work to do, because 2008 is just around the corner and that is another election that will be vitally important not just to the voters of the United States, but to the entire world. It is imperative that we break the hold the Bush Cartel has on America and change the direction their madness has taken us. We need to bring our troops home and keep them there. We need to address the security issues of this modern world as a responsible member of the international community, not as the biggest bully. And what we do matters to the entire world.BREAKING NEWS: I just got a call from Bob Wilson, of Illinois Ballot Integrity Project. You may have heard about how he and two colleagues hacked into the Cook County online voter registration database several weeks ago. Lo and behold, there for anyone to see (or snatch) was the personal data of millions of Chicago voters. An identity thief's dream. Bob's an election judge in Evanston and he called to vent his frustration at what's going on in blue, blue Cook County. While people have the right to request paper ballots, not enough of the special pens with archival ink have been supplied. This makes people who want to vote on paper bunch up in long lines. Many will either give up on insisting on paper ballots or will give up altogether. He's heard this from five precincts so far across suburban Chicago. He sent out a poll worker from another township to get black pens for the voters to use. That will help whichever precincts she reaches, but what about the rest of us? Another problem is the provisional voter affidavit (Form 501). This is for people who come and discover that their name does not appear on the voting rolls. It's getting more and more common these days. Not only was his precinct missing the forms, but they weren't even listed on the checklist altogether. What that means is that no one was aware of the problem until the first person needing one showed up. Bob dutifully called the "repair center" number given for reporting shortages. He was able to get through, on the nineteenth try. Too soon to declare victory. Once he got through, he was put on hold for another ten minutes. Now, he has to wait for the center to send out the supplies, supposing that they even have them. If they weren't on the checklist, maybe they don't even exist. What will all those needing provisional ballots do? Stand in line for five hours? Go to work and come back later? Is anyone besides for me and Bob noticing that something is terribly wrong here? It's only 8:30 in the morning. What will this day bring? Is anyone out there listening? I haven't gone to vote yet. I'm apprehensive, to tell the truth. What if my nightmare comes true? P.S. Don't forget to post your election day experience at OpEdNews.