Elections were held Tuesday, in case some of you were not aware. Local races were contested and bond issues were voted on. How many of you bothered to show up at your polling place?
Work, classes, commuting, children – life in general – may have gotten in the way of you making it to the voting booth. You may be too busy to care what agency gets so many millions of dollars, or since Mayor Bill White was expected to win his last mayoral campaign hands down, that there’s no need to inconvenience yourself with voting.
After all, one of the foundations of this country is free will, which includes the freedom to vote as one sees fit – or to not vote at all. This lackadaisical approach to politics seems black and white, but it is a constant struggle in getting out those who typically do not vote, to make their voices heard by casting a ballot for the candidates or propositions of one’s choice.
Where will you be this time next year: Reveling in your presidential candidate’s win or sulking because your choice lost? If you vote, then you are free to celebrate or be downtrodden counting the days until the next national election comes round.
However, if you do not vote then you just have to sit back and deal with whichever candidate gets elected. Oh, you can hail or bemoan whoever will occupy the White House in January 2009 but those of you who do not take the time to vote will find yourselves either casting stones without rocks or clapping for no reason.
We all, as Americans, have protection of freedom of speech, so you can say what you will about anything and anyone. However, such a stance is groundless if you do not vote. This is a concept so simple yet made to seem complicated that so many blame the process for not voting.
Electronic ballots could be hacked into, polling places have changed from the last time one voted 16 years ago, the candidates’ names are unfamiliar and the Whig party is not even in the race. OK, that last one was a joke, but one can see from the litany of excuses that there are many reasons not to vote, nonetheless there is only one purpose to voting at all: to make your voice heard.
Elected officials promise a lot in the lead up to Election Day and these are the grounds for our choosing to back them. Once in office they can swing this way or that. Should your chosen candidate run away from the issues that caused you to vote for him or her, then by all means, back another contender the next time around. Voting gives us the chance to allow a candidate to get the job done. If the job goes afoul then a subsequent election gives us the chance to oust the sitting official and elect someone else to the position.
In a system dominated by two parties we often have two choices for president, and lately those options have boiled down to choosing the least offensive candidate. A vote cast for a third-party runner shows there are a certain number of people fed-up with conventional politics, but these numbers have not been numerous enough in the past to make an independent enough of a threat in the election.
Yet, the more people who choose to vote for whomever they want makes a statement that there are those who want a say in who gets to draft laws, vote for these measures and sign such legislation or veto it.
Get in the game already – if you are not registered to vote, there are many ways to do so. If you do not have a clue where to start there is always the reliable Google search that will turn up many Web sites to point you in the right direction. The local tax office should have ways to register, as should the Department of Public Safety. Voter registration is more accessible now than it has ever been – saying you could not register is no longer a viable excuse not to vote.
No doubt the country will be inundated with voter registration drives in the upcoming year. Celebrities will find ways to broadcast dire warnings about voting and of course, the ever-present Rock the Vote tour bus will be coming to a city near you.
Though he spoke of younger voters, Hunter S. Thompson could just as easily been referring to all non-voters when he said, "Yeah, we rocked the vote all right. Those little bastards betrayed us again."
Apathy has long been prevalent in politics at election time. Those who vote have always voted and will continue to do it in the future. Non-voters tend to remain voiceless, except when it comes to bashing elected officials they had in choosing or voting against.
You have one year to decide which one you will be.
Lopez, an English senior, can be reached via [email protected]
