There are reasons to not vote, sure. The system is controlled by a bunch of rich old white men, none of
whom represent you or your ideas (it's completely possible that most
of my readers are in fact rich old white men. I don't actually have
demographic data to disprove
this). The whole system is corrupted by money. There are only two
viable political parties, evil and slightly little less evil. One
vote doesn't matter. This definitely doesn't look like the
representative democracy praised in history text books. You
participation in a broken system makes you complicit in its
existence. I get all those reasons. Well, maybe I don't get them, but
I've at least heard them, and I think they're half-baked.
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| Did you? |
But if these factors make you ponder,
“OK, I could vote, but really, why should I?” then, lovely
reader, do I have the perfect article in store for you. My reasons to
vote, presented here and now, ad free, in the only format acceptable
for conveying more than one piece of information on the internet, a
list! Or a slideshow of one slide
if you prefer to
think about it that way.
#1 Your Vote Does
Make A Difference - Contrary to the opinions
expressed by some of the more hopeless and disenchanted folks, your
vote counts. During presidential general elections voter turnout
amongst eligible voters has historically been around 60%. In
mid-terms, like the one we have coming up in a couple of days on
November 6th, it's around 40% (in 2014 it was 36.7%!). That means, to
have a majority voice in electing representatives for a mid-term
election you only need about 20.4% (40% * 51%) of the total
population. That means the voice of that small 20% group is about
five times louder than expected as its preference on a
candidate or issue will go on to represent 100% of the people.
That sounds like amplification of a minority voice to me.
But more importantly, election results,
even in the case that your candidate loses will have an effect on who
runs and how much money will be invested into the next election. If
your candidate loses by 5% instead of the expected 15%, there is a
decent chance that the next election will look different. A victor
might realize they need to do more to appease the increasing group of
voters turning against them and could potentially adjust
their positions. Election results could inspire new, more
agreeable candidates to run if it looks like your issues are gaining
momentum.
#2. Voting Does Lead to
Representation – If there's anything politicians are good at,
it's pandering. Unfortunately, they usually pander to money because
money consistently shows up to every election. But if groups who
typically don't vote at a high rate (I'm looking at you young people)
actually started voting, politicians would have to start pandering to
them because their vote will help decide if they keep their job. But
until these groups start voting more, politicians will continue to
ignore them.
So who do you vote for if you look at
all the candidates and none of them look like you, talk like you, or
appear to have your interests
in mind. It is a bit of a 'what came
first, the chicken or the egg?' scenario between feeling
unrepresented in government and not voting. If you don't vote, you
won't be represented. If you aren't represented you won't vote. See?
So why not break the cycle and vote?
But who to vote for? Well, you could do
more research by going through
their platforms, rhetoric, and campaign contributors to see if there
are any other ways you can relate. But if there's still nobody in the
race for you, then vote for change by voting against the incumbent in
each race, where one exists. That will bring new representatives into
office. Even if you believe those new people are part of the same
system and will not bring substantive change, they are still someone
different and an increase in
politician turnover would signify to the system change is being
demanded. Newly elected representatives are more likely to
make change so they can differentiate themselves from previous
officeholders. Generally, this strategy
indicates to politicians that the status quo is unacceptable
and they will be voted out if they don't create positive change. This
is a powerful message we want in our representatives' heads.
#3. The People Voting Are the Ones
Who Are Winning – I took a quick look at some voter turnout by
demographic data (on electproject.org)
and here's what it told me: If it seems like old rich white people
are winning everything, and running everything, maybe it's because
old rich white people are voting the most. I know obviously that's
not the only reason, but I think it is a factor. The only elections
in the last 30 years where the oldest, most educated, and white
demographics were not the highest in turnout percentage in their
respective groups were the 2008 and 2012 elections where blacks voted
at a greater percentage than whites (oldest and most educated were
still the highest in their groups). Those two elections also happened
to feature a black man running for president. But that black man also
won both of those elections.
If news stories about voter suppression
of minority groups are becoming regular, it's probably because people
in power are afraid of what will happen if they do vote. So if
underrepresented groups want to change the story about power dynamics
in this country, they should be doing their absolute damnedest to do
the thing that the people in power are afraid of: vote.
#4. Voting honors the work of those
who fought so hard to give everyone that right – Unless you are
a land-owning white man (a minority of the population both then and
now) you did not originally have the ability to vote when the first
US elections were held. The fight to extend suffrage to everyone else
has been long and trying and after 242 years is still very much a
work in progress. There are still major problems with felony
disenfranchisement, voting rights in US territories, voter ID
requirements, and simple access to polling locations for many groups,
but particularly those in poorer areas and those with disabilities,
just to name a few of the existing problems. This country was not
perfect when it started and it is not perfect now, but many have
dedicated their lives, and many have
lost their lives so that voting rights could be extended to
more people that comprise this nation. If you have the right to vote
in this upcoming election, odds are you wouldn't have in the 18th
century. I believe that not exercising that right, or at a minimum
not appreciating it, does a disservice to Booker T Washington, Martin
Luther King, Susan B. Anthony, and so many others.
Fun and related fact, did you know that
the term 'Grandfather Clause” or having something “grandfathered
in” which describes allowing an old rule to continue to apply while
a new rule applies to everything else, has it's origins in the Jim
Crow era South. As leadership in the post-Civil War (Reconstruction
Era) period came up with ways to prevent freed slaves and other
African Americans from voting by creating obstacles like poll taxes,
literacy requirements, and other Jim Crow garbage, they realized they
would also prevent poor uneducated white people from voting. So they
came up with a rule that if your grandfather was registered to vote
before 1866, then you could also vote regardless of these new
requirements. Of course since most African Americans' grandfathers
were slaves with no voting right this obviously would only benefit
white people. That is some top grade racist bullshit right there.
#5. The lesser of two evils is
definitely better – I know there are reasons that candidate A
sucks, but if candidate B is threatening to burn the whole country to
the ground, A is a better choice. While elected representatives
would, in an ideal world, be the leaders of positive change and the
most upstanding citizens in all the land, it turns out quite
frequently that they're just wealthy egomaniacs. They can often be
some of the last people to get on board with a good idea and often
only make decisions when they're forced to. The reason for pointing
this out is that progress doesn't come from the top only, or even
most of the time. It can come from anyone. So while it looks like the
country's leadership is at times incapable of doing anything right,
there are millions of people everyday making things better.
Scientists, doctors, teachers, parents, military personnel,
volunteers, and general good citizens are making people's lives
better and making the country better all the time. So sometimes we
don't necessarily need the best person elected to office, we just
need someone that won't burn the place to the ground while everyone
else can work on making it better.
#6. You Never Know - Election
results don't always go according to polls. You don't have to look
any further than Donald Trump's 2016 victory, where he was a massive
underdog. He still didn't receive a majority of the vote, but he did
win the election. Maybe you want to prevent a similar event
happening, or maybe you want more like it occurring, both require
voting. Despite polling data's decent ability to predict election
results it is still an imperfect process and we don't know how
elections will play out until every thing is counted.
If you believe that the results are
already predetermined to the extent that there is no point in
actually voting, you can take that same logic and tell me the US
Men's Hockey team should have never skated against the USSR at the
1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid and produced the 'Miracle on Ice'
which probably turned the tides in the cold war (probably) and shaped
the geopolitical world we know today. They should have just gone home
and let the Soviets win. The lesson: if you want to have a chance at
winning, you have to participate.
#7. Because “I Refuse to Vote
Because I Don't Wish to Perpetuate the Current System” Is a
Bullshit Excuse - I understand the sentiment my rebellious
friends, but I don't understand the strategy. Voting does not
validate the system and it does not give the system power. The system
already has power, it controls the military, the police, the judicial
system, the federal reserve, and the Internal Revenue Service,
regardless of voter turnout. Refusing to vote in no way changes this.
Not voting confirms for the people in power that they have
successfully destroyed the soul of resistance and accountability,
that most citizens are either apathetic or oblivious about their
relationship to their government, and that they should continue with
their destructive ways because they won't be seriously challenged on
it.
If you're not going to vote for your
causes, what then is the actual plan to make anything better? Even if
you think elections are rigged or are at least highly unequal and
unrepresentative of minority views I think it is still much easier to
try to fix things within the system than burn the whole thing to the
ground and start again. Sure, maybe you think that votes should be
counted on a ranked choice system (preaching to choir, mate, I've been onthat bandwagon since 2011!),
but practically, how is that best achieved? Do you think the current
representatives are going to change this on their own? Of course not.
It needs to be demanded by the people. But those people need to vote
on that issues to make their demands heard. Do you think not voting
is going to help anything? Take responsibility. Take action.
Final Summary
I would describe the system of
government in the US as deeply flawed, but I wouldn't call it broken.
There are many things about it that are working. It's something I was
reminded of just yesterday when a police officer in Mexico pulled me
over and tried to get me to pay a bribe, at least that doesn't happen
to me in the States. We do need to have some patience with it though. Progress is slow
and every election result is not going to go how you wish. It's going
to happen slowly over time, but it's not a reason to be discouraged.
One thing that will speed it up is full
participation in civic processes. I
believe that more people participating in the process can only make
it stronger. Feel free to protest vote. Write-in your own name in for
every office on the ballot paper if you want to show that people
don't support the current government. But simple apathy gets
you the unsatisfactory government you have today. So vote, dammit!
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