Get Out The Vote
If you live in the US, you are preparing to vote. If you aren’t preparing to vote personally, you should be. Every election is important for one reason or another, whether you are voting for national offices, statewide offices, local offices, or a range of ballot questions. It is not only your right to vote as a citizen, it is your responsibility to vote- to participate in the civic life of your community. I don’t know anyone who likes to serve jury duty, but I also don’t know anyone who would say it’s not important to do. Voting is the same way, only much less dreadful. It’s important to do, and it’s not unpleasant. You get a sticker when you’re done, and if you are lucky there might be a bake sale near your polling place and you can buy yourself a treat! (Sidebar: I recognize that there are some problems with our electoral systems, and with our system of representation as a whole. That does not give you the right to opt out of participating in them. Work to make them better, sure, but participate.)
I don’t have a lot of positive things to say about Texas’ politics or government, and the Voter ID law is just awful, but one thing they do get right is Early Voting. In Texas, 17 days before the election you can vote anywhere in your county. Anywhere! Including weekends! For almost two weeks! You can just show up and vote. I think this is fantastic. We should be making voting easier for more people, not harder. Every eligible voter should have the opportunity to vote, no matter what. Not everyone has the opportunity to just “make time” in their day on Election Day. With two weeks of opportunities, odds are good that everyone can find time somewhere.
We even voted from Malaysia. I believe in the importance of voting so much so that I negotiated a Malaysian post office for the first time where I encountered a serious language barrier, stood in 3 different lines before finally finding the right line, and spent close to $50.00 USD to make sure our ballots get to Texas on time. That is how important I think voting is. Our voices will be heard!
One of my favorite things about voting is getting the “I Voted” sticker. I really love it, I don’t know why. Maybe because I think voting is so important I am proud to show off the fact that I stood up for what I believe in. Since we voted by mail, we did not get stickers this year and I will admit to being sad about that. So when Word Press designed a badge to post on my blog, you better believe I posted it proudly! I am really proud that we voted, and now you can see it. It’s right there in my sidebar, and I’m keeping it up at least through election day.
You can use this tool to find your local voting information and go vote!
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