Yes, another Blog on Voting

So, given I only have forty-three followers, and that almost certainly includes at least one each of people who already voted, aren't on the site anymore, or aren't American citizens in the first place, I'm not sure how much good this will do, but... please vote, if you're able.

Think that your preferred candidate is already a shoe-in in your area? Well, depending on who and where, quite possibly, but you can still boost turnout numbers and thus public confidence in the result's resemblance to the will of the people.

Dislike both major campaigns too much to vote for them? That's fine, and quite understandable -- but even then, you can still vote on the rest of the ballot, and you can make a protest vote for the presidency and show that you dislike both majors. Maybe your area has a third party you like that needs a certain number of votes to keep ballot access -- it could be worth checking, if you're not going to vote for one of the majors!

I'm not going to tell you who to vote for*, partly because I don't expect there's that much mind-making-up left to do in my small audience and partly because that'd be liable to upset someone and I'd rather not get into an argument given, again, the small audience and thus potential for positive impact I expect this blog post to have.

So, yes. Sorry about the annoyance of another of these messages, but if you can, please do vote. Remember, while a single vote is rarely individually important in a system our size, it's by voting despite that that we can build up numbers that do become important.

*Actually, before I go, technically indeed not "who", but if you're in California, Georgia, Oregon, or Texas, transit and/or passenger rail may be on your ballots. Speaking as a bit of an activist for that, you might want to consider them; perhaps they aren't very important to you or compared to other things that may be on your ballots, but they're one more thing your voting can contribute to.

Comments

[Olden Bronie]

Thank you for the reminder of how important voting is, Reese. Each vote can make a difference in the long run, even if it's just to let the main parties know how one feels. And like you said, there are many other issues that are of concern and need your voice.

Mass transit is something I'd like to see more of myself. I wish there was more initiative in my state to have it in the less metropolitan areas.

[Reese]

5387630
Oh, thank you. :)

Aye, sorry.

[theRedBrony]

Honestly I don't think many Americans are undecided at this point. But yes, abstention is a valid option. That is, casting a blank ballot. Voting for your party's candidate because you hate the other guy even more than your own is basically just telling your party that they picked a good person, since they got votes.

[Reese]

5388055
"Honestly I don't think many Americans are undecided at this point."
Yeah, like I mentioned in the post, probably not. Still, I thought I'd make the post, just in case.

"Voting for your party's candidate because you hate the other guy even more than your own is basically just telling your party that they picked a good person, since they got votes."
Or telling them that they don't have to have a good candidate or even a not-terrible candidate, just someone who looks at least slightly less bad than the other major party's candidate. Something that is, of course, just wonderful for the health and effectiveness of our democracy.

A quote from Douglas Adams's work is coming to mind:

After a long, heart-stopping moment of internal crashes and grumbles of rending machinery, there marched from it, down the ramp, an immense silver robot, a hundred feet tall.

It held up a hand.

"I come in peace," it said, adding after a long moment of further grinding, "take me to your Lizard."

Ford Prefect, of course, had an explanation for this, as he sat with Arthur and watched the nonstop frenetic news reports on television, none of which had anything to say other than to record that the thing had done this amount of damage which was valued at that amount of billions of pounds and had killed this totally other number of people, and then say it again, because the robot was doing nothing more than standing here, swaying very slightly, and emitting short incomprehensible error messages.

"It comes from a very ancient democracy, you see..."

"You mean, it comes from a world of lizards?"

"No," said Ford, who by this time was a little more rational and coherent than he had been, having finally had the coffee forced down him, "nothing so simple. Nothing anything like so straightforward. On its world, the people are people. The leaders are lizards. The people hate the lizards and the lizards rule the people."

"Odd," said Arthur, "I thought you said it was a democracy."

"I did," said Ford. "It is."

"So," said Arthur, hoping he wasn't sounding ridiculously obtuse, "why don't the people get rid of the lizards?"

"It honestly doesn't occur to them," said Ford. "They've all got the vote, so they all pretty much assume that the government they've voted in more or less approximates to the government they want."

"You mean they actually vote for the lizards?"

"Oh yes," said Ford with a shrug, "of course."

"But," said Arthur, going for the big one again, "why?"

"Because if they didn't vote for a lizard," said Ford, "the wrong lizard might get in. Got any gin?"

"What?"

Of course, that was about some strange far-off alien planet, and I'm sure there was no inspiration for the bit from any countries on Earth.

(Note, because I feel like I might actually need to say it: I am not among those believing, or claiming anyway, that there are actual disguised lizard people in positions of power on our non-fictional Earth. Honestly, there are enough problems in our governments without inventing new ones...)

[theRedBrony]

5388365 That is pretty astute, lol.

I am not among those believing, or claiming anyway, that there are actual disguised lizard people in positions of power

Neither am I, but I'm a realist. They are lizards. Whether that's literal or figurative is beside the point.

[Reese]

5388630
Yep. Published in the early-mid 1980s, too, that was.

Oh, well, if we're talking figurative lizards... that's a bit different, yeah.