I don't know about you, but my phones were ringing off the hook during the weekend. Luckily, I have Caller ID, and I was able to filter most of the last-minute political calls for area races as well as the presidential bonanza.

I find it rather humorous that we were getting calls from both parties. Surely with today’s technology and access to information everywhere, you wouldn’t think that the opposing party would call and waste their time. Maybe they’re looking for voters from one party to cast their ballots for candidates in the other party. It hardly seems worth their efforts.

But one can expect such frenzy on the brink of our country’s most historic presidential election. I’m betting that turnout will be heavy in Mercer County, following the patterns of the enlightened states around the country that offer early voting.

Unfortunately, we don’t live in one of the enlightened states, and the only way you can vote ahead of time in the Keystone State is by absentee ballot. You can only get one of them if you can prove that you won’t be here on Election Day or are unable to vote because of some physical limitations.

Lines have been much longer than usual in states such as Florida and Virginia, leading experts to predict a large turnout on Tuesday. The craziness of it all has been reports of people waiting in line for up to eight hours to vote. That leads to two questions: How can it take so long to vote, and how can early voting expect to be a continued success with such horror stories?

We hear a lot about First Amendment rights, controversy about gun control, the right of men and women to be pro-choice or pro-life, but little about one of our most sacred rights, the ability to vote. It is the cornerstone of democracy, but I’m both amazed and disgusted by the numerous residents who stay at home on Election Day.

The hypocritical thing about it is most of the people who don’t vote will be the ones to use their freedom of expression rights to complain the loudest. Polls open in Ohio at 6:30 a.m. and close at 7:30 p.m. Pennsylvania polls open at 7 a.m. and close and 8 p.m. Don’t miss out.

The editor's e-mail bag

The part of last week’s column about how ridiculously performers sing the national anthem before high-profile athletic contests stirred a lot of e-mails and phone calls. It is such a passionate issue with so many people, especially our veterans, that a man whom I didn’t know stopped me on the street in downtown Sharon to shake my hand one afternoon last week.

I got this e-mail from Steve Williams of Greenville first thing last Monday morning. “I was reading your editorial this morning and was glad to see the ending piece about the national anthem. One of the biggest pet peeves in our household is the ‘butchering’ of the national anthem at sporting events. My wife and I consider it unpatriotic when it’s not sung the proper way and it really irritates us.

“You mentioned Game 1 of the World Series. Did you happen to see last night’s horrible rendition? Patti LaBelle delivered, perhaps, the worst national anthem I have ever heard, and she screwed up the words.” (For the record, she sang “skylight’s last gleaming” instead of “twilight’s,” and “through the perilous flight” instead of “fight”).

“On another note, the best national anthem I have witnessed was at the one and only NASCAR race my wife and I ever went to. About five or six years ago, we went to the race at Michigan. LeAnn Rimes sang a beautiful anthem, with a very powerful fly-over during the last few notes, followed by the roaring ‘starting of the engines.’ Just writing about it makes my hair stand on end!”

I got the following e-mail from Shirley Bigley of Lakeland, Fla., reacting to part of my column last week about Tuesday’s election. She is a former Pennsylvanian and an online reader of The Herald. “Sorry to be one of the e-mails to clutter up your inbox this morning, but I want to thank you for your timely editorial piece. It is a sorry state of affairs when, considering all the important issues facing the country, what happens on SNL and the ad nausea talk shows (cable soap operas) takes precedence. What happened to the ‘ ... angels of our better nature?’ Thanks for trying to bring a clearer perspective to this most historic, significant election and trying times.” 

Jim Raykie is the editor of The Herald and writes this column on Mondays. His e-mail is jraykie@sharonherald.com