Here in the United States, the deadline for Voters Registration is rapidly approaching. This is your last chance to register to vote in the November 2 elections. It is vitally important that every concerned citizen register, and then carry through by voting. Do not let yourself be scared by stories of registrations being tossed out in Ohio or expected voting issues in Florida. If you don’t even try to register, none of that matters.
If you need help figuring out how and where to register, kottke.org has a nice page of information and useful links. If that’s too complicated, do a web search for “voters registration [insert your state here].” Rules may be a little complicated if you are a college student living in the dorms, so double check local requirements. If you have any questions about local rules, polling places, or whether you are already registered, add your county name to the search above and find the phone number of the local voters registration board.
Let me refute several common excuses:
I don’t want to be called for jury duty. Do you have a driver’s license? A telephone? Electricity service in your name? Then you may already at risk for being called to jury duty, depending where you live. If it really bothers you that much, bookmark this page of how legally to get out of serving on a jury.
It doesn’t matter how I vote anyway. There’s plenty of room for change in the electoral picture, as this graph shows. And that’s just the headliner. You’ve got a member of Congress to vote on, maybe a Senator, and a slate of State and local issues to vote on. Polls be damned, the voting booth is the one place your opinion really does matter. You may have “just one vote,” but that gets added in with everybody else’s just one vote. Ask your local voting officials or check your local newspaper for a voters guide of candidates and issues. You’ve got a month to study!
With my job schedule, I don’t have time to vote! Working twelve hour shifts, eh? If you seriously doubt you can leave for work a little early and vote on the way in, or get to the polls after work before they close, ask about an absentee ballot. Most states have liberalized their policies for such ballots. In fact, in some states with electronic voting, it has been suggested that absentee ballots at least have a paper trail.
I live on the West Coast. The election is long over by the time I can vote on the way home from work. By my count, Pacific Time Zone represents 78 electoral votes. Add another 7 for Alaska and Hawaii. This election may well be close enough that those 85 electoral votes are pivotal. But again, this attitude discounts the very important Congressional, State, and local issues every voter faces.
In short, if you do not vote, if you do not even bother registering to vote, people like me will have a hard time taking you seriously when you complain about the government, taxes, schools, roads, education, the environment, or the economy. Yeah, your vote impacts all that.
Please note that this post is free of partisan rhetoric. It is none of my business who you vote for, just vote.