Did you vote in the last local, state or federal election? If you did should you be voting in this election? Politics is confusing and can really get on ones nerves especially in the days leading up to Election Day. You receive phone call after phone call promoting candidates, you are bombarded with television and radio commercials. The newspaper are offering their views of the candidates and trying to tell you how to vote.
Do you like all of the dirty politics that is going on? Do you believe the ads that tell you how great one politician is while taking snippets out of a comment made by the opponent to show how bad they are? Before I convince you of the reasons you should never vote in an election let’s give you a few reasons why you should vote every chance you get.
You Agree With the Candidate
If the candidates’ views and opinions closely parallel yours this is usually a person that you will want to support. It really is not enough to just vote for the candidate because they are likeable. If you think likeable is enough to get your vote you might want to take a look at some of the people that we now have running the country.
You Disagree With the Candidate
You may want to vote against a particular candidate, instead of voting for your preferred candidate. This type of voter often feels that the candidate’s views and opinions should never, ever be allowed to influence local or federal politics. Emotions run intensely during elections, and some voters prefer to try to keep a certain candidate out of office, rather than using their single vote for the candidate they like.
Vote to Cancel Another Person’s Vote
This scenario in sometimes seen with couples that have diametrically opposing political views. The goal of such couples is solely to cancel out the vote of their spouse! Sometimes that means voting for someone other than their preferred candidate, but as long as their vote cancels their spouse’s vote, they are satisfied. The emotional factors come into play once again.
Vote to Take Votes Away From a Candidate
In a variation of “you disagree with the candidate,” While this can be a trap and result in the candidate that you would like to see winning end up losing, some people will vote for a relatively “harmless” candidate who has no chance of winning, rather than give their vote to the frontrunner. These fringe candidates try to win the votes of undecided, disenfranchised, or angry voters in an attempt to act as a “spoiler” for the more popular candidates. Sometimes these “take-away” votes are enough to swing the election in a particular direction, and sometimes they are not.
You Want to See Change
Wanting to see change is a strong reason to vote. Where you must be careful is that you are not voting for the wrong change. As an example, if you want less government and less debt that alone may be a good reason to vote Republican. If you want the government to control everything you do from birth until death that would be a good reason to vote Democrat.
The ONLY Reason You Should Never Vote In An Election
If you are old enough to vote there really is only one reason why you should never, ever vote in a political election. The only acceptable reason for not voting is if you are DEAD. In some locals even deceased persons have fraudulently voted, but that’s a discussion for another article.
If you live in the USA, it is your civic and patriotic duty to exercise the right to vote. Your ancestors and maybe even family members fought and died to earn this right for you, and you owe it to them to vote in every election. Some of them may be fighting right now and you need to honor them and protect their right to vote too. Do not disrespect our fighting men and women by telling them that their sacrifice is not good enough for you?
If you allow Election Day to roll around without voting or fail to mail in your absentee ballot on time don’t complain about the election outcome. You had a chance to change the results, but you passed. Remember that each and every election and each time a candidate comes up for re-election.
~A Proud Supporter of Kids Speak for America~
