Florida Fair Elections Coalition

One Voice. One Vote.
(An Ode to the Struggle)

One Voice.
One Vote.
(An Ode to the Struggle)
by Pamela Haengel, President
Voting Integrity Alliance of Tampa Bay

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by Pamela Haengel, President
Voting Integrity Alliance of Tampa Bay (VIA Tampa Bay
May 6, 2006

We've already covered this.
Nearly a century now gone...
Since women stood
with
Raw, aching knuckles
throbbing, swollen ankles
long sweltering days,
freezing cold and icy rain.
Speaking truth in embroidery
that fluttered on a bitter wind.
Suffering torture
at the hands of hypocrites,
Suffering ridicule
at the hands of men,
who preferred them
to just birth babies.
They risked it all
and stood nonetheless.

We've already covered this.

Fifty years more
and here is Selma
and Rosa and Martin and
Oh!
How they walked
and walked and walked and walked.
Left those buses empty
and useless as a womb
that can only abort.
And they walked
their feet speaking truth
and made men of power
angry so angry,
as they turned
the other cheek
for another glancing blow.
But they risked it all and walked nonetheless.

We've already covered this.

Another half-century gone
and here is Madness
come 'round again, this time
with invisible votes and slick machines,
a diabolical diamond
scintillating
with a million evil facets
designed to confound.
DREs and TSXs and VVPATs
(Oh my!)
Electronics and glitches
and interpreters and code
And a whole lotta
smokescreen
and dirty money
Oh God of Technology
and no one responsible
in this house of mirrors,
every finger pointing
in circles at another.

So continues
this American Struggle
that is 
the very heartbeat of our nation.
And so continues
the hope and the fight
and the labor pains
for the dream
that was.
And shall be again.
For we walk,
and stand,
and follow
in mighty footsteps.

One voice.
One vote.

We've already covered this.

--Pamela Haengel, May 6, 2006

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Florida Fair Elections Coalition
Florida Fair Elections Center
386-736-8086
112 West New York Avenue, Ste 211
DeLand, FL 32720

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