If You Don't Think Your Vote Matters... Read This

We're less than two months away from the mid-term elections, and it's a great time to focus on getting out the vote!

According to Pew Research Center, less than fifty-six percent of the voting age population in the US voted in the 2016 presidential election. In terms of percentage of people casting votes, the US ranks twenty-sixth out of the thirty-four members of the Organization for Economic Cooperative Development.

This means that barely half of the potential voters in the US cast ballots that resulted in the current president being elected. (Actually the current president lost the general election by about three million votes, but that's another story.)

A month after the general election the Washington Post published an analysis of the voting in the presidential election and concluded that the current president won due to 79,656 votes in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

Overall the current president won eighteen states by less than 250,000 votes.

If you're not a fan of the current president, and you didn't vote, and especially if you live in Michigan, Pennsylvania or Wisconsin, your inaction most likely helped put him in the White House.

That should make you mad.

I'm hoping it'll make you mad enough to vote in the November mid-terms.

The New York Times published a smart op-ed video recently that helps make this point. The accompanying article focuses on the ironic but positive aspects of the current presidency. More people are paying attention to politics. More people are becoming engaged.

In fact, the Pew Research Center voter analysis cited in the second paragraph of this post, went on to state the number of votes cast in Democratic House primaries at the end of May was up by eighty-four percent over 2014, The number of votes cast in Republican House primaries were up by twenty-four percent.

And twelve percent of Congress are immigrants or children of immigrants.


Here's more good news.

According to the New York Times, 2018 was a record-setting year, with 256 women winning Congressional primaries. It also was a record-breaking year for the number of women filing to run. And the number of women winning primaries for governor was also record-breaking. 

But the Times cautioned, the majority of female candidates are running in House districts that favor the other party.

So getting out the vote is crucial.

Change for the good is never easy. But it is always possible! 

And it's up to us.

Stay informed. Register. Then Vote!

P.S. Who you vote to be in charge of the White House matters. A lot. For instance, the current administration has cut the number of refugees allowed into the US by half this year - to 45,000. The smallest number allowed in four decades. And if they stay in office, they have plans to cut an additional 15,000 next year.) To the tens of thousands of families and individuals left out, it matters. It matters that the US isn't the example that it used to be.

For extra credit: Here's an interesting article about innovative voting-at-home options, now available in at least four states, which could significantly increase voter participation while lessening the possibility of fraud.

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I'm extremely interested in hearing from you! Comment on if you plan to vote, and why!

Image credits: Top, Cynthia Tucker; middle voice waves; bottom OUTmemphis.