I said in an earlier post that I would endeavor to avoid discussing politics on this blog like a plague. But in this particular instance, I am going to bend my self-imposed rule. As most people know Tuesday is the Mid-term elections in the United States. We will be electing 36 Governors, 35 Senators and all 435 members of the United States House of Representatives. Not only this but legislators on the state level, and ballot initiatives that cover everything from Tax levies, Minimum wage increases, and medical marijuana.
That’s a massive amount of things. And even though the president is not on the ballot, many people on both sides of the political spectrum see the election as a referendum on the president’s performance. This election gives the public their first chance to respond to Trump through the ballot. Both sides seem pretty stoked about expressing their views and this is slated to have one of the highest participation rates for a non-presidential election in our nation’s history.
Which leads me to my big political statement. Here it is:
PLEASE VOTE!!!!!
See, I even asked nicely. If you are an American Citizen over the age of 18, Please vote! This election is one of the most important elections in our history. I don’t believe that is hyperbole either. I don’t care if you are a Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, Independent, or anything else. (Alright, I DO care a whole lot but, I am keeping my opinions off this page) The main thing is that you actively participate in the direction our nation is taking during this vital junction. The next two (and more) years will be directly affected by how the majority votes. Do the right thing for our nation, me and yourself and get your butt to the polls!!
I nailed this and voted early last week. Such a rush! Was absolutely heartbroken to see my county/city officials running unopposed without write-in opportunity. YIKES!
I love early voting. I wish my state (Missouri) had it. I stood in line for two hours to vote and it wasn’t even “prime time” (before or after most people work)
I wish my state had a mailing option. The unopposed thing is a bit undemocratic. Everyone should have a choice.
I completely agree with that. My choice was fill in the box or not to fill in my box, so I didn’t fill in the boxes for the candidates I knew I was opposed to. Very small town so I have actually had to interact with them when they weren’t “on” in politician mode – yup, lost them my vote. I mean, they won, but with one less.
Researching these offices and their inhabitants is also proving a little challenging. Go figure. Reason #1456939 I am a wee bit cynical, although willing to engage in the process often.
I’m a firm believer in researching. A lot of ballots have judges on them with yes and no if they should be retained. When I research I find some are doing very good work, some are not, I like voting know on the judges I feel are “bad” judges.
Voted at 6 AM. Usually hubby and I are numbers 1 and 2 on the line at that hour, but today it was crowded and I could tell there were a few people who were there to cast their ballots for the first time ever. I do care about the outcome and who they were there to support, but it gave me hope to see so many people actively participating, even if we’re not all of the same opinion.
While the two-hour wait was bad. I was glad I was in out of the rain, and no one got discouraged and left without voting. I think the voting laws should make it easier. I envy the states that do that with things like early voting, mail-in ballots etc. I find it easier to swallow the idea of “my guy/gal” not winning if at least I knew everyone who wanted to got to participate.
Oh we do have mail in here. Because I know I can usually vote on my way to work with little wait time, I go that way. If I’d done the mail in this time, I would have had to submit 3 times because there was a late addition when the sherriff got fired for making racist comments and then another change when more candidates petitioned to be added to the sherriff race
Hopefully, they got a less racist sheriff this time. I think mail in would be nice.
He is an African American officer with lots of integrity and experience. I think he’ll do a great job.
Excellent. sounds like they got it right.