米国選挙における投票者の権利を守るためのボランティア活動 フロリダ州、2004年
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概要
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In the fall of 2004 in the United States, thousands of citizens participated in volunteer activities to make sure that the presidential election scheduled for November 2nd would proceed in a lawful and fair manner. While volunteering related to political campaigns and polling have been common at the local level, 2004 was unusual in that thousands of volunteers traveled great distances to help out in areas that were unfamiliar to them. This activity was in direct response to the confusion that occurred in Florida during the previous presidential election in 2000, in which the outcome of the election remained unknown for an unusually long period of 36 days and which led to a bitter debate over which candidate rightfully won. Citizens came to Florida from far and near to offer their time and assistance, both as nonpartisan volunteers to support the voter drive and as campaigners for one of the two main political parties. This writer was one of ten U.S. citizens who traveled to Florida from Tokyo, Japan as a volunteer in the nonpartisan category. Following is an account of what took place during the days leading up to Election Day based on the writer's experience as a volunteer during that time. But first, an introduction to the background of volunteering in the United States will precede the main story to offer an insight into this tradition, because it may help explain the reason why so many people from outside Florida were willing to travel to the state and volunteer, and why the volunteers were readily accepted by the residents of the local communities.