Start Soapbox
Election Day is Tuesday and I encourage all of you to get out to vote. It matters less who you vote for than it does that you take the time to go to the polls. I couldn’t wait, so I cast my vote early this week at the town hall. There are never any lines in Warren, Vermont, but I am so excited about this election that I had to vote now. In typical small-town fashion, I walked into the office and was greeted by long time town clerk Rita Goss, and told her I wanted to vote. She gave me a form to fill out and instructed me to put my name in and sign because she knew all the rest of my information. I guess that comes from sinking deep roots in town—I’ve been voting there for 35 years.
While the big news is the presidential election and I do not want to underestimate the importance of that choice, it is perhaps even more important to inform yourself about the other candidates for state and local elections. It is these folks who will have the most direct impact upon your life and will prove that all politics are local. Here in Vermont, we have strong third party candidates from the Progressives and Liberty Union parties as well as the candidates from the Democrats and Republicans. I vote for all of them at one time or another, and I suppose that’s why I’m still on the Republican’s mailing list. I’m a bit of a wonk so I listen to candidates’ debates, inform myself about their positions on important issues and I take all of my votes very seriously—even for dog catcher (actually, especially for dog-catcher!).
Your vote always matters; it matters to you because you have taken on the responsibility of citizenship and expressed your opinion in the ultimate opinion poll—the election of your leaders. This is a responsibility that is sacred, that many have fought and died for, and something that cannot be dismissed as “unimportant and meaningless.” We have many responsibilities as members of society, but the most significant is our responsibility to vote. Please VOTE!
End Soapbox