Many people give number of excuses on why they don't vote. "My vote didn't count last time, so why should I vote this year?", "My vote doesn't count, so why does it matter?", and my personal favorite "I don't like any of the candidates running, so I'm not voting.". Wow! Are those really the excuses people come up with? No your vote didn't really count last time, but you should still vote. No your vote still doesn't count this time, but you should still vote. Really no one is going to love the candidates that are running, but you're suppose to pick the one you believe has more of what you are looking for as a President. So that you can know in the back of your mind that you did do something good for you country by voting for the best candidate you belive will help you and your family out.
Majority of people forget the fact that we as Americans are spoiled. So many lives were lost for us to have so many freedoms as we do now. Voting has been a major priority since our Founding Fathers wrote out the Amendments of the Constitution. Amendment 15 is: Protecting voting rights. Amendment 19 is: Women given right to vote. Amendment 23 is: Gives people in the District of Columbia the right to vote for President. Amendment 26 is: Sets 18 as the voting age. So as far back as 1870 to 1970; a hundred years later there are still issues or concerns about people voting. In some countries women are just recently able to vote. We abuse this freedom as if it's no big deal if we didn't vote this time around. We sure don't abuse the 1st Amendment or the 7th Amendment. We come up with so many excuses on why we don't vote, when we just need to say that we aren't involved in our government and we are ashamed of that. We are ashamed that we are the number one country people come to, to start a new life, have freedom, have a voice, yet our own citizens are lazy to get up and vote for the right presidential candidate. I am ashamed we are like this.
If you beleive gas prices are too high, your paying too much taxes or the intrest rate on your house is too high why don't you ask questions. Ask yourself why is it like this? What is our President doing to help our economy and our gorvernment? Then ask yourself what can I do to help get some of these questions answered? Start by becoming involved. Read the paper, watch the news, surf the internet; study the presidential candidates. When election day comes you will be completly satisfied and happy on your decisioin, because now you are a voice to be heard.
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I am commenting on Deborah’s most recent post on iGov: ‘I Think we Should Vote’.
I agree 100% with what she is saying and believe it is absolutely necessary to vote in any election. If everybody says “my vote doesn’t really count, so I’m not going to vote” then nobody goes to vote, and nobody is elected. That can’t be good for our democracy.
Another point she brings up is that, sometimes, a person doesn’t like either candidate and therefore doesn’t vote. If you are in that position, go for the lesser of two evils and vote for the one you hate the least.
Yet another good point is that the American populace needs to become more active in the election process than they are by reading articles or watching the news. You need to be informed about the candidates so you can make a well thought out decision come Election Day.
After reading iGov editorial on why we should vote, I thought about the same responses that I received from my friends as to why some of them would not vote. They ran down some of the same excuses that she stated. My personal favorite that she did not list was “I will go vote if that will shut you up.” My response was “Thank you.”
I agree that we should vote. Even if you live in a state that has gone one way or the other for years, if enough people decided that this is the time to change, then your vote will be important.
In this historic election several states did in fact change color. The electorial college only applys for the presidential contest, the other offices that you are voting on are on a straight popular vote count. The Minnesota Senate race is looking like it is coming down to a few hundred votes. So is Alaska, at the moment, the Democratic candidate is ahead by a FEW votes but “Alaska, determined to continue in its role as the vortex of all things politically strange, still hasn’t counted tens of thousands of ballots” (1) The state of Georgia is having a run off on its Senate set on December 2 this year as well.
There are other countries that face incredible hardships just to cast a ballot. For example, in the Southern African nation of Zimbabwe, there were reports of armed militias attacking sometimes killing political opponents. Also this type of political harassment included assaults, abductions and forced attendance at President Robert Mugabe’s ruling party rallies of the Zimbabwean citizens.
Americans tend not to turn out if the weather is bad, or if it inconveniences them in any way. If the lines are too long, i.e. would have to wait more than 10 minutes. My favorite excuse this year was that they did not know enough about the candidates. Pardon? How could you NOT know SOMETHING about the candidates? With the wealth of information out there on most all of the people running for office, I find that hard to believe.
Our democracy depends on an informed electorate that is our citizens being informed about public affairs. It does not take much to at least scan the paper, or go to a news web site or turn on the television to a news channel while getting dressed. This will at least keep you in the loop to what is going on. Go check out the League of Women Voters voter guide the morning of the election and read up on the candidates if nothing else. Just go and vote and thank your lucky stars, God, Allah, Buddha, Odin, Gluskab, Ehecatl, Bhagavan , Radha or that rock in your garden that you are able to vote freely.
1. The Election Lives!
After reading “I think we should vote,” I started to think all the different excuses on not voting, and I agree to her post. Maybe people are just too lazy, busy, or just don’t want to. I heard many funny ones and a lot of corny ones. My personal favorite is “my vote won’t make a difference, it’s just 1 vote it won’t make a difference.” If our vote really didn’t count, presidential candidates would not try so hard to win our votes. No need for them to persuade the people. Our vote gives us the voice and the power in the political game, and that is something no one can take away. One vote can make a difference in an election.
I agree with Deborah, that America is spoiled. So many people made so many sacrifices, so that America can have the things that are present today. I think the people have forgotten we as a nation went through just to have the rights and freedoms we have today. The author gives the audience the history/ list of voting Amendments (women given the right to vote, voting age set at 18). This is great for the audience who did not know much on voting. People lost their lives so that we can vote, and I think we have taken that for granted. It’s sad to see our country like this.
This Presidential election was exciting. We had an increase in voter turn outs, and in result the first Africa American President. We should be grateful in the opportunities we had this year on voting (ex: early voting, voting through mail). The government put in a lot of effort to get more people to vote, and I think it worked. If you didn’t vote, you have no right to say or criticize.
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