Former president Jimmy Carter, appearing on the Johnny Carson show one night years ago, explained how dead people officially cast a ballot in Georgia elections back when Carter was first running for office.

If a person died in an election year, Carter explained to the astonished Carson, the surviving spouse was allowed to cast the deceased's vote in addition to his or her own. Carter grinned his famous grin. Then he explained Georgians figured that, of all people, the surviving spouse would know best how the dead person would have voted. After all, the survivor had put up with the deceased's opinions for years.

Peculiar voting habits are an American rite. In the exercise of this uniquely American practice, farmers (despite their lowly status of 2 percent of the population) have an opportunity to make themselves heard: locally, statewide and nationally. That's because the demographics of the voting-age population paint a portrait of today's agriculture. Farmers vote. Consistently.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, those most likely to vote are older homeowners, married couples, individuals with higher income brackets and higher education levels. Almost 60 percent of those with a high school diploma vote while 80 percent of college graduates do.

As you'd expect, seniors carry the load in the voting process. What's more, the turnout among older people continues to increase and has every year since 1972.

Compare that to voting percentages which are falling nationally. In 1960, 63 percent of the voting-age population cast a ballot. In the hotly contested 2000 presidential election, 51 percent of the voting-age population went to the polls. Pollsters have as yet seen no boost in the post-9/11 voting intentions. That may change as we near the actual election.

Still, 40 million registered voters in 1998 didn't vote. A third of those said they were too busy. Another chunk said they just weren't interested, were sick or didn't think their vote would count. (No word as of yet on whether that last group lived in south Florida.)

Projections are for as many as three-quarters of the 18 to 34 age group of voters to sit out this election. Why? The usual suspects: perceived lack of involvement and topics more geared to an older swath of society like Social Security and health insurance. For the same reason, 60 percent of seniors are expected to vote.

In agriculture's favor, too, readers are much more likely to vote than the general population. And the more often they read, the more likely they are to vote. Look no further than the glut of farm magazines for proof of farmer reading habits.

Since 1990, about three-quarters of the growth in the voting-age population has occurred in the 45- to 64-year-old group. That group is projected to include 58 million people or almost three in 10 of the voting-age population. That's another snapshot of farmer demographics, folks.

Consider that agriculture fits the classifications for the most regular voters, and you'll see that farmers and ranchers can make a difference nationally.

So exercise your constitutional rights. Focus on the enormity of your task. And come election day, wisely select the leaders of our country who will affect the direction and history of the world.

Oh, and for the record, at least a couple of flaws live in the Georgia logic for the voting practices of the recently deceased. The most obvious revolves around the contrary-spouse factor. You and I both know that factor. The survivor's attempt at humor. Like your spouse suppressing a giggling convulsion while casting your final vote.

For Ralph Nader.