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I voted the good ol’ fashioned way today—in person at my Oakland polling station (though a day early to beat tomorrow’s chaos). I was nervous when I saw the nightmarish line at Alameda County Courthouse, but surprisingly, I got out in about an hour fairly unruffled. The place was fully staffed, the line efficient, and the mood upbeat. A guy quipped, “Obama better appreciate this,” as he dutifully made his way to the back.

Not a whiff of the tension that riot police and SWAT teams are gearing up for tomorrow in Oakland—a phenomenon that, strangely, hasn’t been very widely reported. Troubling, considering that it’s happening mostly in cities with large black populations like Atlanta and Chicago.

—Nichole Wong