The program that controlled voting, aside from being completely tamper-proof (attempts to change the programming would erase the program completely), would not allow the release of any results until all polls had closed planetwide. This was because in the past it had been found that the release of such information as it was collected tended to discourage many people from voting at all. After all, what was the point of casting your ballot if the issue already seemed decided? This was a particular problem among the western time zone cities both on Mars and Earth. Since 2070 the new system of non-release had been in place and all but the media, who used to delight in making daylong newscasts out of Election Day, seemed to like it.
The westernmost city on Mars was Procter, an agricultural city of six million. It was six hours behind New Pittsburgh and Eden, nine hours behind Dow. At 2000 Procter time, the polls were shut down. In Eden it was 0200 the next day. In Dow it was 0500. Despite the late hour, not many Martians were asleep.
The department of voting office was on the seventy-third floor of the capital building. The head of the department, Jackie Yee, heard her computer terminal send a simple message to her. "Voting is complete. All polls are closed. Would you like to release the results?"
She sighed deeply, her body tingling with anticipation. "Not just yet," she told the computer. "Get me the governor."
It took less than fifteen seconds for Laura Whiting's face to appear on her screen.
"Are all votes in?" she asked Jackie. If the governor was nervous, she certainly didn't show it.
"Yes, Governor," Jackie replied. "Would you like me to release the results now?"
"Yes I would," Whiting answered. "It's time we found out what we'll be doing tomorrow."
"I'll order them released immediately," Jackie said. "And Governor?"
"Yes?"
"I voted yes," she said. "And I hope everyone else did too. Free Mars."
"Thank you, Jackie," Whiting replied, smiling. "Now go ahead and release the results so we can all stop wondering."
"They'll be out in less than a minute."
Jackie instructed the computer to make public the results of the vote. The actual results would now be stored forever in its memory bank and would be accessible to anyone, anywhere with an Internet terminal, which meant pretty much everybody in the solar system. As a perk of the job Jackie was the first person to actually see the tally. Her screen filled with figures listing the number of voters on the planet that fit the requirements, the number of those voters who had actually voted, and finally, a breakdown of yes and no votes.
"Wow," she said simply, staring at it.
A second later a counter near the bottom of her screen began to whir rapidly upward. It was an indicator of the number of requests for information from the voting computer. In less than fifteen seconds it had spun well past sixty thousand.
In her office Laura Whiting sat with Kevin Jackson. Outside the window the stars were visible, shining as brilliantly as the lights from the surrounding high rises.
"Well," said Jackson. "Shall we see?"
She nodded. "Let's find out if we're going to be in jail tomorrow or not." She took a deep, nervous breath. "Computer, access Martian voting computer and display results for last ballot issue."
"Accessing," replied the computer, which had no idea of the magnitude of what it was doing.
It took less than four seconds and the screen lit up with the requested information. Jackson and Whiting stared at it, eyes wide, mouths agape.
"Well would you look at that," Laura said softly, unable to develop a reaction just yet.
"I can't believe it," Jackson mumbled beside her.
MARTIAN SPECIAL ELECTION 041513
WILL THE PLANET OF MARS DECLARE INDEPENDENCE FROM THE FEDERAL ALLIANCE OF WESTERN HEMISPHERE AND ENFORCE THIS DECLARATION BY ANY MEANS AVAILABLE? YES OR NO?
PARAMETERS FOR PASSAGE:
1. MUST HAVE GREATER THAN 95% VOTER PARTICIPATION
2. MUST PASS WITH 66.667% YES VOTE OR GREATER TO BE CONSIDERED BINDING
RESULTS
NUMBER OF PLANETARY INHABITANTS OF VOTING AGE WITH MARTIAN CITIZENSHIP:
49,346,412
NUMBER OF ABOVE THAT PARTICIPATED IN THIS ELECTION:
49,005,922
PERCENTAGE OF VOTER PARTICIPATION:
99.310%
WITHIN PARAMETERS?
YES
YES VOTES:
45,820,537 93.504%
NO VOTES:
3,185,385 6.496%
YES VOTES ARE MAJORITY
GREATER THAN 66.667%?
YES
RESOLUTION IS PASSED
Capital Building, New Pittsburgh
May 26, 2146
Like her speech before, this one was going out live all over the planet. The media had been informed of its imminence and had been reporting it since the votes had been counted the previous night. The planet was abuzz with the news of the successful vote and very few people had slept. And like the previous speech it was being transmitted to both WestHem and EastHem on Earth.
Laura was dressed again in a simple cotton shirt, produced from the vast cotton fields of Mars. She wore no make-up and her eyes were bleary, with obvious bags under them. But her face was radiant and happy.
"Citizens of Planet Mars," she began her address. "Today that phrase has entirely new meaning. By an overwhelming majority you have sent a strong message to me and to WestHem. We are no longer citizens of the WestHem colony of Mars, we are truly, for the first time, citizens of the independent Planet of Mars. We have voted for freedom. Let today, May 26, be forever known as Martian Independence Day. Though we have yet to put a constitution in place I do not think it will be too forward of me to declare this day as our first planetary holiday.
"As I've promised time and time again, a free Mars is meant to be a Mars of the people." She stared into the camera. "Of the people, not of the corporations, not of the rich. Our goal should be the betterment and prosperity of Mars and everyone on it, everyone, not just those with money and power. Not just those with political clout, and most certainly not those from Earth who own everything."
She smiled wickedly, knowingly. "Did I say own? I must have misspoken myself. As of yesterday at the close of polls, this is an independent planet. All industries, including of course, the vast agricultural and steel industries that forged this planet, that made it what it is today, belong to the people of Mars. The goal of these industries will not be profits for powerful corporate conglomerates on Earth, but the betterment of the Martian people. Each and every Martian person will benefit from them. All of you. I give my sacred vow that this will be so.
"When things settle down a bit on this planet, when we get the necessary steps that need to be taken in these first days taken, we will convene a committee to begin work on a new constitution for our planet; a constitution that will guarantee for perpetuity that Mars will forever remain a planet of the people and that the horrible abuses of the old system will never be repeated.
"But in the meantime we have much to do and little time in which to do it. Our most daunting task of course, is to keep the forces of WestHem from taking this planet back from us. We must not allow this to happen. If it does, never again will we be given opportunity to free ourselves. We've made our move, now it is time to enforce it. For that we need to beef up our military forces. To do that, we need volunteers.
"As I explained in my first speech this will be a voluntary war. We may be defeated and the fate of the military personnel if that should happen is unknown. You may be killed in battle whether we win or lose. But if we're to win, we're going to need as many new soldiers as we can get our hands upon. This includes men and women, employed and unemployed. You are all Martian citizens and you all should have the opportunity to fight for Mars if you choose. So please, sign up for service.