Early voters miss out on a lot

Early voting began in North Carolina Thursday, and some polling stations were reporting long lines. So much for avoiding the Election Day crowd.

I was not among the early voters and won't be. It's not because I'm undecided just 17 days before the election. I'm pretty certain how I'll vote. But with more than two weeks to go, a lot can change. A candidate you voted for could drop dead before Nov. 4. An "October Surprise" could change the whole dynamic of the election.

And perhaps most important, early voters miss out on the national day of unity, the day when civic-minded citizens across the country share in performing the fundamental exercise of democracy. When I go to vote Nov. 4, I expect to share the experience with my neighbors, some of whom will vote as I do and some who will not. Regardless of how we vote, we will be affirming our citizenship, our responsibility for this government we will elect on every level from the White House to the school house (in this county, we have no courthouse contests, just a school board election).

That feeling of shared responsibility is something worth preserving. Although modern elections are far different from what the Founding Fathers envisioned and experienced, the fundamental principles remain. We do not have to wait months for the election results, as our forebears did in 1792, but we will eagerly await results. For the past 32 years I have spent nearly every election night at the local Board of Elections, wherever I was living at the time. There, I could follow the incoming vote results and share the excitement with the reporters, politicians and hangers-on who crowded into the election office. This year, with no news or editorial responsibilities, I might sit at home and watch the national results on television.

The first election I reported on, in 1976, was not settled until well after midnight. The 2000 presidential election was not settled for weeks, thanks to legal challenges that had to be settled by the Supreme Court. This year's election might be settled earlier — or it might drag on into Nov. 5. Either way, I'll share the experience of watchful waiting with 300 million fellow Americans. All of us have a stake in this election.