Today is Election Day 2012.
Tomorrow morning when we wake up, we may or may not know who the president will be for the next four years. If the election comes down to who wins Ohio, both parties are preparing a legal fight over provisional ballots.
According to the Washington Post, there is a disagreement over how positive a proof of identification must be for a provisional ballot to count.
So, if the race is as close as predicted, it could be weeks before we know who will serve as president.
Here in Hawaii, though, we will know who will replace Sen. Daniel Akaka. We should also know who will serve in Congress for the next two years. In Maui County, we will know the makeup of the County Council.
Mercifully, all the negative campaign ads will stop.
As for the presidential race, it almost seems fitting that a campaign that was so acrimonious may come down to a court fight. Certainly the tone of the contest would suggest that partisan gridlock is going to continue for the foreseeable future.
As we wrote here yesterday, please take the time to cast your ballot. The problems the country is facing are too big to just sit this election out. The 15 or 20 minutes it will take to vote will be time well spent.
We can only hope there is a decision tonight in the presidential campaign. The country does not have the time - nor the stomach - for a protracted duel of lawyers.
* Editorials reflect the opinion of the publisher.
