As someone who is heavily invested in the national political landscape and has a strong passion for voting, Election Day is the one day when nothing else matters besides scrolling on Twitter, refreshing Politico, reading New York Times articles, and binge-watching NBC News‘ election coverage. No matter how busy I may be, I always make sure that I vote and remind family and home friends alike to cast their ballots before polls close.
Yesterday, as I got out of my evening class and polls were starting to close in New England, I had dinner with some of my school friends in their apartment. As we ate, I asked the six of them whether they had voted in the election. To my dismay, I was met with a flood of six “no’s”, each of which broke a little piece of my heart. As the political junkie of the friend group, I was hurt to see that my friends opted against voting, especially in such a monumental election.
Given the noise surrounding the Supreme Court’s decision to repeal Roe v. Wade, it felt as if this was finally set to be the election where people my age would mobilize and turn out to the polls. After all, it seemed as if the biggest issue on the ballot was the right to a safe and accessible abortion. Yet, as I sat on the sofa eating spaghetti and meatballs watching Lester Holt report the latest winners, I was surrounded by four young women who decided against casting ballots and couldn’t muster up a decent enough excuse as to why they chose not to.
I have tried to understand what reasons may have inclined my friends to not vote. Generally speaking, one might argue that voting by mail is complicated. Others may say that voting is pointless, especially in blue states like Massachusetts, where their vote “doesn’t matter”. A few will tell you that they didn’t like any of the candidates or that they weren’t informed enough to make a choice. You may even encounter people who aren’t even sure of how to vote. However, a simple conversation can sometimes be enough to convince people like my friends to avoid making the same mistake of abstaining from voting from occurring in future elections.
At the end of the day, voting is a matter of two things; Effort and Privilege. Being a good voter requires a bit of effort, whether it is researching the candidates, discussing the contentious topics on the ballot, searching for your polling precinct, or, above all, taking the time out of your day to make a plan for casting your ballot. Realistically, sparing fifteen minutes of your time to briefly review the candidates and ballot questions, as well as mapping out your voting plan, is not much to ask for.
When it comes down to the act of voting itself, the “I didn’t have enough time” excuse is nonsense. Between in-person early voting, absentee voting, or traditional Election Day voting – which usually begins at 7:00 AM and ends at 8:00 PM – Secretaries of State and Elections Commissioners have advanced various initiatives to ensure that voting is accessible to everyone. So, even if you are away at college like me, working all day, or unable to get to your polling precinct, there are easily-facilitated alternatives in place that allow you to still make your voice heard.
“The worst crime we as the electorate can commit is voter complacency. Regardless of whether it is a local municipal election, a Congressional midterm, or a Presidential election, your vote is important and matters on every level. If we take for granted our ability to elect new officials and pass ballot measures, we underestimate our role in American democracy and threaten the legitimacy of our government.”
As for the biggest election fallacy of them all: “My vote doesn’t matter in a state like XYZ”. Nothing seems to bother me more than when somebody tries to tell me that their vote is insignificant. Although it may not seem so in states like Massachusetts, which constantly vote Democratic, the American political landscape is always changing. Any given district across the United States may well vote for one party this election and proceed to vote for the other the next time around. Take, for example, states like Colorado, Illinois, and New Jersey, which were Republican-dominated in the 1990s but consistently vote Democratic nowadays. If we adopt the mentality that the ballots we cast are trivial, we enable the opposing party to do the ‘unthinkable’ and flip states. Voting frequently and consistently is critical in keeping our parties in office or shifting the local, statewide, or national partisan landscape.
The worst crime we as the electorate can commit is voter complacency. Regardless of whether it is a local municipal election, a Congressional midterm, or a Presidential election, your vote is important and matters on every level. If we take for granted our ability to elect new officials and pass ballot measures, we underestimate our role in American democracy and threaten the legitimacy of our government. So, next time Election Day comes around, avoid making the same mistake my school friends made by staying home and not casting a ballot.
kyleneves.org 