Count Every Vote

Sign in Bucks County, PA – Photo: L. Weikel

I want to believe in the integrity of our fellow citizens. I want our citizens and the world to believe in our system. So it goes without saying: I want Pennsylvania and every state to count every vote.

I want to remain hopeful. I’ll admit it: I’m an idealist. Particularly as an attorney, I’ve believed in the principles upon which our country was founded. I’ve also been proud to be part of the system that was developed to implement those principles.

Crisis Brewing

This afternoon, Karl and I bucked our weariness from working the election at our polling place yesterday and attended a rally in Doylestown. The premise was simple: every vote should be counted. This is a fundamental precept of our society. We’re all supposed to have a stake in this country.

Feeling the sunshine warm upon my face, it was heartening to realize that there are young people and older folks – and lots in between – who still care enough to come together to unify around a single purpose as important as the voice of the electorate.

There was a collective hiss from the crowd when it was announced that Eric Trump, Rudy Giuliani, and former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi had gathered in Philadelphia – just as we were gathered where we were – to announce their filing of a lawsuit on behalf of DT to essentially stop counting valid ballots of Pennsylvania citizens who cast their ballots by mail. Talk about irony.

I know I’ve said this before, but I’m going to say it again: working collectively to stand up to power is thrilling and inspiring. The practice of walking our talk brings the entire process home and pulls it into your heart and soul.

Photo: L. Weikel

It’s Not Over

While we may need a day or two to recuperate from the sheer physicality of the past few days (weeks, and months), including loss of sleep, it’s important to remember that we need to follow through on our beliefs.

We need to figure out a whole bunch of things, not least being how we’re going to take what’s been exposed by the election of DT and figure out what his obvious appeal is revealing. It’s shocking, I think, to most of us that so many were so willing to re-elect him.

I only hope they did not succeed. But we really won’t know that until every vote is counted.