Ballot Box

ANOTHER ONE of our liberties is going to be taken away without our consent unless we get on this case now in a major way. Clearly what has solidified our liberty in this nation is the sacredness of the ballot box. We could cast our vote and we knew that our vote really counted. Over the years hundreds and hundreds of elections at all levels were won by a single vote. Already our system of government has been greatly compromised by the so-called Motor Voter laws. People can show up at the polls on Election Day to vote and in most places little is done to check on their authenticity after the fact.

WHEN THEY chose to back Martin O'Malley for mayor last year, leading African-American politicians in Baltimore honored the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., whose birthday we celebrate today. They heard some jeering, some suggestions that they were "pseudo" black people. Another mayoral candidate began urging black people to vote for someone who looked like them. A third suggested black voters should vote black because African-Americans had "come too far to turn back." This warning was right -- for a different reason.

WASHINGTON -- Behind the money madness afflicting the current crop of presidential candidates lies a very compelling fact.Over the last four elections -- 1996, 1992, 1988 and 1984 -- the men who raised the most money in the year before the primaries became the presidential nominees.The competition for early contributions, often described as an "invisible primary," has in some ways become the most influential contest of all."The year of the invisible primary is a year in which candidates are made and unmade," says Thomas E. Mann, director of governmental studies at the Brookings Institution.

In a sweeping address that touched on women's advancement in the work force, combating discrimination and forgiving President Clinton, Coretta Scott King urged people to carry on her late husband's legacy by getting involved.The wife of slain civil rights leader the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke to about 800 people yesterday, mostly business and civic leaders, including Gov. Parris N. Glendening, at the annual Network 2000 Women of Excellence luncheon at Renaissance Harborplace Hotel.

MONTREAL -- All-Star balloting concludes today. For many with valuable incentive clauses and pricey egos, it represents a high holiday. For B. J. Surhoff, workaday left fielder on pace for triple-digit RBIs, it is just another Sunday within another season that will provide him a three-day break come the midsummer classic.Surhoff is quietly constructing a career season amidst the Orioles' year of slow burn. At the season's midpoint, he is on pace for 24 home runs and 106 RBIs.They are strong numbers.

Today, millions of Americans will go to the polls and choose a president. But the really smart Americans will not settle for one; they'll make a stop at the CD store and go for two.Or, more specifically, "II" (Columbia 67577, arriving in stores today), the new album from the Presidents of the United States of America. A second dose of tuneful insanity from the trio responsible for "Lump" and "Peaches," "II" doesn't promise a tax cut or a bridge to the future, but it will make you want to crank the stereo and jump around.

I have to send in an American League Most Valuable Player ballot tomorrow, and after spending hours talking to players, executives and other writers the past month, I've only figured out this much: There is no right answer.Orioles center fielder Brady Anderson thinks Seattle shortstop Alex Rodriguez should win, hands down. Rafael Palmeiro: Boston first baseman Mo Vaughn, no question. Bobby Bonilla would pick Juan Gonzalez of the Texas Rangers. Others have mentioned Cleveland slugger Albert Belle ("If you guys don't vote for him this year," said one player, "we'll all know it's a personal vendetta."

JERUSALEM -- What do you call a box into which voters put their ballots?Call it a voting receptacle. Call it a mailbox. Just don't call it a ballot box, Israel says.The latest battle for control of Jerusalem has begun over a myriad of small and seemingly petty symbols as Palestinains prepare to vote tomorrow in their first national election.Symbols such as what to call the act of Palestinians casting ballots in Jerusalem."This is not an election in East Jerusalem," insists Maj. Gen. Oren Shahor, the Israeli coordinator of government activities.

LOS ANGELES -- On a radio talk show shortly after the verdict in the O.J. Simpson case, a caller half-jokingly urged whites to riot. The talk-show host and subsequent callers concluded that, of course, white people don't riot. But in reality, if ''to riot'' means something like ''to wreak havoc on others,'' then white Americans have been rioting for some time. But when white people riot, they do it silently, almost invisibly, albeit painfully.Who are these white people? They are mostly the powerful elites who control decisions and shape public opinion.

The Baltimore election board will begin opening more than 3,500 absentee ballots tomorrow at 10 a.m.More than 4,200 ballots were issued for the election. As of late yesterday, 3,564 had been returned to the election office. Of those, roughly 3,100 were cast by Democrats, according to city election officials.In addition, any ballot that arrives in today's mail and that was postmarked by Monday will be accepted.City election administrator Barbara E. Jackson said the counting of the absentee ballots should take less than a day.Baltimore election officials predicted that the absentee-ballot counting process should go much more quickly than it did in last year's disputed gubernatorial election.