The people speak

There's a reason tens of millions of Americans have already spent hours waiting to vote

Voters.
(Image credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

This is the editor's letter in the current issue of The Week magazine.

The line from the polling place spilled out the door of the town hall, curled down the driveway onto the sidewalk out front, and extended nearly out of sight before making another turn into an athletic field. There it continued to grow. People sat in portable chairs or stood scrolling their phones or chatting with spouses or friends, patiently waiting, quietly radiating intent. No matter how long it took, they were going to vote, and vote early, and their votes were going to be counted. Two volunteers walked down the line with a few dozen boxes of pizza, handing out slices. "Someone donated them," one of the volunteers explained, squirting sanitizer into eager, outstretched hands. Inside, as people fed their paper ballots into the vote-counting machine, a veteran poll worker marveled at the mood. "Everyone seems so...happy," she said. After four years of listening, Americans were finally having their say.

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William Falk

William Falk is editor-in-chief of The Week, and has held that role since the magazine's first issue in 2001. He has previously been a reporter, columnist, and editor at the Gannett Westchester Newspapers and at Newsday, where he was part of two reporting teams that won Pulitzer Prizes.