Vote

I am writing this to urge you to get out and vote tomorrow. Growing up in a very political family, I counted the days until I was eighteen and could vote.  I knew no other way in life, even my husband grew up in a voting family and when we met he was already registered.  Even if he was a registered member of the Green party, he was registered. We both love getting the sample ballots and talking them over together, listening to each others opinions on the issues. We take our kids with us to vote and hope that they will be excited to vote when they turn eighteen.

I talked a bit about this last year, but I feel the need to bring it up again. It really bothers me that some women let the men in their life tell them how to vote.  I don't believe that people should let other people vote for them.  I find it sad that there are women out there who feel they can't think for themselves.  I also find it hard to believe there are people out there not registered. I understand in some cases why, like my Gramie whose parent's fought so bitterly over issues she never wanted to vote.  As an adult I urged her to vote but she never would.  I guess she was born only five years after women were given the right to vote and that probably played a huge part. I think of the women before us who were not allowed to vote and feel privileged to have the right.

On another note, I get tired of the whole bandwagon syndrome. Half the time I think people just vote one way on something because somebody else is voting that way.  I wish more people would take the time to read the voter guides available to them.  Read up on the issues, educate yourself, find your opinions on the subject. Don't just vote that way because it is the cool thing to do or somebody else is doing it. Think about your morals, values and the issues in your life vote based on those things before you vote. Also, I really don't think copied and pasted emails are valid voting information. I find it disturbing that so many people find those to be the gospel truth. Many of those emails are far from the truth and often bad information. Check them out on Snopes.com to see what they have found out about the email. Many,many times the information is completely or partially wrong, don't just blindly send them on.

Long story short, vote! Let your voice be heard but let it be your voice.

Update:  I wrote this early today, I just now have heard a story about a man in AZ. He apparently tried to sell his vote on Ebay.  That is the kind of people I am talking about, people who have no respect for the right to vote. These rights are a privilege and did not come freely, they are not something to take lightly.  Fortunately, there are laws that prevent the sale of votes in AZ.