The Voting Machine

Rules of Eligibility

Before we could get any further, the door opened. Agent Stevens entered the room, accompanied by Decatur, Polk, Weisbein, and Chang. Teresa rose from her chair, expecting Stevens to send her out of the room, but he told her to stay and pulled up a seat beside her. The other agents all sat down. It was the first time we'd all been together since I arrived that morning.

The special agent in charge set his audio player on the table again. "Let me bring you all up to speed. Our best lead is this recording of Zeke and David. David talks about a list of names. These could be our suspects in the plot. They're all linked to someone named Shiro."

He replayed the conversation of Zeke and David.

"I don't deserve this kindness, David, not after the way I've treated you and your people over the years. Why are you doing this?"

"We're all human beings at the end of the day, Zeke. I hope you remember that for the rest of this campaign. And I hope you remember that when I am gone."

"So if my guy is on the list," Zeke said slowly, "and Shahabi's on this list, what does that tell you?"

"I am not sure."

"What does Shiro have to do with this?"

"I am not sure."

"It must be connected to what happened over there."

David took a long time to respond. "Maybe."

"Well then what about the Savage gal? Is she on your list?"

"We're not going to talk about this anymore, Zeke. The less you know the better. This meeting is over."

Dead silence.

"That's the end of the audio," Stevens said. "Zeke and David never spoke again after that, so far as we can tell."

"'The Savage gal.' So I am guessing that you want to know about Brenda Savage," I said. "Have you brought her as well?"

"We're trying to find her," Stevens said. "She's not in her home. We also checked the VA clinic. Her counselor told us she goes away sometimes. She drives out into the desert, far from the city and the crowds. Being alone for some veterans has a calming effect. It was always the opposite for me. I'd rather surround myself with people."

"So you think she's another key to solving this? Just like Shahabi."

"That's what David believed. Didn't he?"

"Tell us about Brenda Savage, Temo."

And so I did.

***

I first met Brenda Savage in August, the hottest month in Las Vegas. Growing up in Los Angeles, summer was always a time for celebration. The poorest kid in the city can still get to the beach and catch a wave and breathe in the ocean breeze. Summer in the desert was something different altogether. It was a time to concentrate on survival. The sun brings heat and light. It can illuminate and it can burn, just like the truth.

The biggest questions of my life deserved honest answers. I needed to find out whether I could take the heat. Would the unforgiving desert summer sun show me a path I hadn't seen before? Would it blind me? Would it kill me? I had to know. Hiding in the dark was not an option in my life.

I remember the first morning I met Brenda because David was leading another strategy session in the campaign office. We had two dozen volunteers rotating across three basic functions. The first team manned the voter registration stands in Dollar Delight stores throughout the city. The second team went door-to-door through neighborhoods, delivering flyers and meeting voters in their homes. A third team stayed in the office and made outbound phone calls.

David wrote the state eligibility rules on the whiteboard. These were the specific guidelines describing who was allowed to vote:

- 18 YEARS OF AGE OR OLDER

- A US CITIZEN

- A RESIDENT OF NEVADA FOR 30 DAYS PRECEDING AN ELECTION

- NOT DECLARED BY A COURT TO BE MENTALLY INCOMPETENT

- NOT CONVICTED OF A FELONY OR HAVE HAD YOUR CIVIL RIGHTS RESTORED

- REGISTERED TO VOTE

"This election's going to be close," David said. "The Founding Fathers will use every tactic they can to contest every vote. They'll challenge voter ID. They'll challenge residency. They'll challenge authenticity of registrations. You need to think about how you're going to protect every voter you meet out there. Zeke's people consider this city to be enemy territory. And they will attack every effort to cast a ballot."