I've been voting in presidential elections for decades, but this one is unlike any I can recall, and not just for the obviouus reasons.

More so than other years, these last few days have been pins-and-needles time, especially for supporters of Barack Obama.

It's not just that we want to see him prevail for what it will favorably mean to the country and the world. That's a given for any partisan in any presidential race.

It's that there exists a wariness, bordering on paranoia, that something bad is going to happen at or around the polling places - a Gore-Bush repeat, if you will.

Millions of new voters are expected to participate Tuesday. But will they? Or will citizens be denied or will machines malfunction or will everyone's vote actually be counted the way they were intended?

There was a time when this would never cross our minds. A Jimmy Carter independently monitoring an election was what occurred in emerging nations, not ours. Yet there's this nagging sense that we need a Jimmy Carter right here on Tuesday.

Let's hope not. Let's do our part and vote. Let's have belief in our system. Let's not think another election can be stolen in this country.