Considering Election Day “what ifs?”

It seems that Condoleezza Rice and the Bush administration are afraid to tempt fate. Despite… It seems that Condoleezza Rice and the Bush administration are afraid to tempt fate. Despite Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge’s recent warnings of a possible terrorist attack aimed at disrupting the November elections, Rice stated adamantly that there is no plan to postpone or reschedule elections in the event of an attack.

“We’ve had elections … when we were at war, even when we were in civil war,” Rice said to CNN on Monday.

But having a plan and implementing that plan are not one and the same. With the country suffering from mass confusion over the color-coded threat system coupled with what one U.S. representative termed “threat fatigue” — becoming so used to being afraid that we’re not afraid anymore — having a concrete plan should such an attack occur isn’t giving in to terrorists; it’s showing them that they cannot disrupt the democratic process.

Rice’s comments will probably also come under political scrutiny: Does the administration not want to delay elections in a show of strength? Or is it aiming to stay in power, since most voters won’t want further instability in a time of crisis? The conspiracy theories are endless, each more farfetched than the next.

But there is one obvious conclusion — for an administration that stresses emergency preparedness, why is it so willing to be caught unprepared?

Election Day, even without an attack, is going to be somewhat chaotic. Given the national frenzy that resulted from tiny pieces of paper — oh, for the days when chads were our biggest concern — adding any sort of attack would throw the nation into tumult. The attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, weren’t simply half an hour one Tuesday morning; they caused an all-day panic, and rightly so.

If an attack even one-tenth of those on Sept. 11, 2001, occurred on or just before Election Day, it would produce similar chaos. People shouldn’t go to the polls if they are afraid for their lives. Not planning for such an event isn’t demonstrating strength; it’s demonstrating negligence.

But a properly designed and agreed-upon plan — like the one that DeForest Soaries, chairman of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, called for in a letter to Congressional leaders on Monday — would prevent such confusion and demonstrate that any attack would not derail the democratic process. Now that’s the real show of strength.