While many are hailing the recently completed U.S. presidential election as a historic moment, as Barack Obama became the first black man to be elected to the highest executive office in the nation, there is one election that did not turn out good for online poker players.

In the state of Washington, Democrat Chris Gregoire narrowly defeated Dino Rossi, a former state senator.

Why is this bad for online poker players? Because during her first term, Gregoire became the first state governor to pass legislation making it a Class C felony to play poker on the Web. The punishment: Equivalent to that of a child molester and repeat drunk driver. Now those of you who don’t live in that state or in another country may not care. But as with the case of the Kentucky judge trying to seize the domain names of many online poker sites, what happens in these individual cases could set horrible precedents that would prevent law abiding poker players from around the world from playing online. Over her reign, Gregoire has taken away residents freedoms on the Net that are enjoyed by those living in all the other 49 states in the U.S.

Online Poker players worldwide must remain vigilant in protecting our rights and speak out against these types of injustices wherever they may occur in the world.