Did You Rock Your Vote?

It’s Midterm Day in the US. I confess to not paying much attention to politics or elections when I was younger. Much of my early life was spent just trying to survive and I had little energy left over for much beyond my immediate needs. It’s ironic because had I really thought about it, I would have welcomed the opportunity to vote for folks whose policies would have benefitted me.

Being decades older and in a far better place in life, I take my opportunity to vote more seriously- in Presidential, midterm, and local elections. I understand that my one vote does indeed matter. That encouraging others to vote, offering rides to the polls, and helping request an absentee ballot, is good work. Four people I know were on the ballot today in our small town. Three were running for county commissioner positions and one for the Board of Education. One, in particular, had run twice before to unseat our current State Representative. She lost both times in this decades-long strongly red city. Today she lost, but the margin was five votes. Five. Votes. Our town’s voter turnout for this midterm was higher than ever before, at 58.6%. Just under sixty percent of our county’s citizens voted and that was the highest turnout in our history. And one race was decided by a margin of just five votes.

Every election is important. Every vote counts. It can certainly feel impossible to effect change in the current divided atmosphere, but we can vote. It does matter. If you’re in the US, I hope you voted today. If you didn’t, I hope you’ll consider making a plan to vote in the next election. I love you and I want a good, supportive, healthy, and functioning society for you. Voting is a conduit to creating that society.

Ps. Ooops. I wrote this on November 8 and thought I posted it, but I really just sent it to drafts. It’s tough being an old lady trying to navigate a techy world.