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The Kansas City Star, Mo., Steve Penn column: This time, a special excitement on Election Day
[November 08, 2008]

The Kansas City Star, Mo., Steve Penn column: This time, a special excitement on Election Day


Nov 08, 2008 (The Kansas City Star - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
It's 5 a.m. on Election Day at the headquarters of Freedom Inc. at 1202 Brooklyn Ave. when the telephone rings. It may be early in the morning, but Sybil R. Daniels is already there on the job.

"Hello, Freedom Inc.," Daniels says. "You need a ride to the polls? What's that address?" She scribbles the information on a sheet of paper then hands it off to someone who will make sure the voters are picked up.

Every election day, the assignment stays the same. It's a role Daniels has filled for Freedom Inc. since the black political club was founded in 1962.

Milestones are important these days. And Daniels will reach one when she turns 90 on Monday. With what was at stake at the polls on Election Day, the task of answering the telephone took on added significance for her.

"I'm happy to get a chance to do this," Daniels said. "Working on elections is one of the things that I've accomplished in life. I wouldn't have missed it for anything. I get tired. But it's something I look forward to. It's challenging. You talk to so many people. I talked to a lady today who I haven't talked to in 20 years. But she knew who I was."



Daniels has been around politics most of her life. She's the widow of the late state Rep. Fletcher Daniels, the first African-American speaker pro-tem in the Missouri House of Representatives. And she is a pioneer in her own right, having worked as a clerk for the old Jones Store downtown for 18 years in a day and time when African Americans couldn't even eat there.

So for her to be able to experience the excitement of Tuesday was almost too amazing to put into words.


"I never thought I'd live to see this day," Daniels said. "Every day, I thank God that I lived to see this happen. It's historical. My husband would be so happy if he were alive to see this happen. He was a civil rights man. He was really for the underdog."

A few lucky voters in Kansas City didn't just catch a ride to the election polls. They were able to do it in style as they were chauffeured there while sitting in the back of a black stretch limousine. Three funeral homes in Kansas City donated the use of their cars, their drivers and their gas on Tuesday to get more people to the polls.

Duane E. Harvey Funeral Home donated the use of three cars. Lawrence A. Jones and Sons Funeral Chapels donated the use of four; Church Funeral Associates donated another. When people called Freedom Inc. for a ride, the limousines were dispatched.

The initiative, Limo Rides to the Polls, was a nationwide effort on behalf of the National Funeral Directors and Morticians Associations.

"This a piece that we've been very proud of," Duane E. Harvey said. "It's gone along very well. Even some of the drivers appreciate doing it. One driver took four women to the polls. Each of them was over 85. One of them said this was probably her last election. She said she probably wouldn't live to see the next one.

"I told the women to enjoy the ride to the polls. At least it wasn't for a funeral."
On Election Day, Kris and Lynn Cheatum were the next best thing to a limousine ride to the polls. The couple spent the day transporting voters to the election polls in their own vehicle. When I saw them, the couple had dropped off five residents. Lynn Cheatum once worked as a reporter at The Star, where he spent most of his 18 years in journalism.

On Tuesday, the Cheatums, who are white, were campaign volunteers.
"We're peace activist and political animals," Kris Cheatum said. "No election goes by without us doing something."

They relished the chance to be involved.
"I've been so nervous," Kris Cheatum said. "We couldn't just sit home on Election Day. It makes us feel like we really contributed to Barack Obama's win. The election is so important. We've got to turn the world around."

To reach Steve Penn, call 816-234-4417 or send e-mail to [email protected].
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