Nathan and I started a subscription to The New York Times a few weeks ago because we wanted more from our newspaper than stories copied from the AP wire, Belk ads and readers’ comments which showed an incredible disregard for the standard expectations one should have for proper spelling and grammar.  With a paper of substance in hand, I have been reading quite a bit about the local and presidential elections that just took place in Nigeria.

“They sent us away, all of us,” said Mikailu Musa, a 40-year-old farmer who had lined up at 10 a.m. to vote for an opposition candidate, but was chased away by young toughs. “There was no election here.”

Thus went Nigeria’s presidential election, amid chaos and delay in some parts of the country on Saturday, with a botched attempt to crash a tanker truck into the headquarters of the electoral commission in Abuja, the nation’s capital, as well as violent protests and ballot-box snatching.

Almost everywhere ballots arrived late, and presidential ballots were printed without vital information to identify candidates and prevent fraud.

Races for legislative seats were postponed for lack of ballots in some places. Voting began late and went very slowly in others. There were widespread reports of shortages of presidential ballots in several states.

I read just today in the Times that 150,000 citizens of Bhutan lined up for hours to take part in a mock election so that they could practice for the real deal that is coming soon, as voting for leaders is a new practice in that country.

When I think about the chaos and intimidation that happens during elections in so many parts of the world and the determination of people to vote anyway, I get frustrated that so many in our country complain about the need for voting to be even more convenient and easy.  Polling locations are open for twelve hours on election day, and Tennessee even gives you multiple days to vote.  You can find some time to vote if it’s important to you.  You need a photo ID?  Good!  Imagine wanting to verify the legitimacy of the person voting!  The language on a particular resolution is confusing?  Why would you even go behind the curtain without first doing your research?  I have never gone to vote without knowing exactly which levers (or buttons) I intended to push.