In the 2016 presidential election, only 3 of 5 eligible voters bothered to exercise that right. That means that 2 of 5 eligible to vote didn’t bother. That was a near-record low, and the lowest in 20 years.
There may be forces, both inside and outside the country, counting on similar poor turnouts this year. They (whoever “they” may be) are counting on American voters to be so tired and frustrated from the neverending onslaught of political ads, especially the negative ones, that voters will stay away from the polls in droves. Please don’t fall for it!
If you fall into the “Why bother? My vote won’t count anyway” crowd, then you abdicate your vote to others. When the stakes are so high, why on earth would you let others cast your vote for you?
Our country was established as a representative democracy, where we elect men and women to government to represent us. If you leave those choices to the 60 percent who voted two years ago, then those elected officials don’t really represent you, do they? They represent the 60 percent, not you, as you essentially gave up that right of representation.
Too many have fought for your right to vote. At the birth of our republic, only white men who owned property could vote. Women fought hard and suffered much to win voting rights for women. The Civil Rights movement similarly fought and suffered to win voting rights for African Americans. Today, every citizen of age has the right – and the obligation – to vote.
We’ve spent a great deal of space in the Tri-County News (and time to prepare it) listing candidates on your ballot. Because we primarily cover four towns and two school districts, but our readers go far beyond that as well, we can’t possibly list every possible candidate on your ballot. Go to pollfinder.sos.state.mn.us online to see your ballot, find links to candidate websites (to learn more about them and whether they truly represent your interests), and to find your polling location for Tuesday, Nov. 6. Polls across the state are open from 7 a.m. until 8 p.m. that day, and in Minnesota you can register at your polling location Nov. 6.
We will do our best to report the latest results next week. Final results will be posted on Facebook, and in the TCN Nov. 15.
