To Vote or Not to Vote

By Samantha Scinicariello on November 5, 2012

ballot

It always makes me laugh when I hear people saying, “Well both of the candidates are awful, so I just won’t vote”.  I find it ironic that people believe that merely because they do not show up at the booth, they are not voicing their opinion. Remaining silent is not some sort of protest against the system, nor is it going to matter to the candidates. As hard as it is to believe the winner of the election, come Tuesday, will not be knocking on your door wanting to talk to you about how he can make this country better for you. What you are doing by not voting is expressing that you could not care less about what happens to you or your country in the future. Because the perfect messiah has not come around, voting is not worth your time.

Maybe that is what you want, to be able to tell your kids that in a time when our nation was at the verge of economic collapse, you stood by and watched complaining about other people’s imperfections. As heroic as that sounds, I do not think it is the legacy that most people want to leave behind. Yet it is the one that many create for themselves every election season. The right to vote is something that many do not have and should not be ignored. The voter turnout in America is dismal at best and some even believe they would rather see the whole system fall apart than vote, because they do not like the candidates. My question then is, how will that solve anything?

How is giving up your right to vote helping you? America is not so much a place as it is an idea and voting is no different. When looking at a candidate you should not think of him as a representative of a party that you have to vote for because it is the party you have always voted for. You should think of the person as a representative of ideals and goals. No perfect candidate will ever exist, but what will exist is someone who holds many of the same ideals as you. Even if he is not one of the major part party candidates, there is someone out there whose ideas are similar to yours. It may take out some time from your day, but vote. When you look back no matter what becomes of this nation at least you can say that you stood for something and took action when it counted the most.

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