I pride myself on being a good citizen–and in voting in every election. But today, for the second time in a row, I almost missed an election.
My brother sent me a text message reminding me to vote in the primaries in April. It was a good thing he did–because although I was up on the ballot issues, I had forgotten that the day was THAT day.
Today, I was walking out of work when I spotted someone else’s “I Voted Today” sticker. Thank goodness for that–elsewise I’d have never remembered today was election day. I’ve been on top of this election too–everything except the date, that is. I’d never fixed the election schedule in my mind, or scheduled it in my planner–and so, I almost missed it.
That’s the hard part of being a conscientious citizen–remembering to vote. You can be a registered voter, you can follow the issues, you can be informed about the candidates. But when push comes to shove, you have to remember to vote. And you have to remember to vote even when the nation isn’t deciding on its president.
Face it, it’s easy to vote for a president. You’ve seen the names for a good year, at least. You’ve heard the date at least a bazillion times. Everyone is talking about how November 2 or 4 or whatever has the potential to change the destiny of the nation. And when the day comes, everyone is proudly wearing their “I Voted Today” sticker. And if you happened to not come into contact with anyone, the TV and the Internet are awash with the latest exit polls.
The harder elections are the spring elections in the off years–the elections in which you vote for your city council members, school board, and airport authority. The elections in which someone tries to sneak a bond issue past an unsuspecting public. Those are the elections that are hardest to make–and the ones it’s most critical that you attend.
Face it, one vote out of millions doesn’t make quite as much difference as one out of thousands or hundreds. And face it, most “little” elections like the one today are attended by only a few hundred voters. That means YOUR vote means A LOT–as long as you actually get out to the polling place to vote.
So here’s a word of advice. Next time you hear of an election, put it on your calendar straight-away. ‘Cause it doesn’t matter how much you CARE, or how much you DEBATE, or how much you FOLLOW the news–if you DON’T VOTE, your opinion DOESN’T COUNT!