An appeal to young people: please vote

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I keep hearing that young people get all charged up about elections, but then fail to turn out on election day. I don’t know whether that’s true, but I know it was true of me. I didn’t vote until I was in my 30s. And since I know why I didn’t, I thought I’d share some of my feelings on the election this year with people 18-30.

The reason I’m bringing this up is because this time, the decision the electorate is making is absolutely critical. The choices couldn’t be more stark. McCain has begun steamrolling ads that attack Obama’s character, rather than his policies. And they’re effective, if polls are to be believed. And that’s a big if this year.

I’d like to share the way I thought about things when I was young, and share how I view those things in retrospect. If even one person responds by actually voting, I’ll be happy. But I hope all of you will.

There were other things to do

I was actually pretty lazy, or at least unmotivated. Work isn’t an excuse because a lot of people are late or leave early on election day, and even though there are some employers who won’t be cooperative, it is possible to get up early enough or go out late enough to vote. Polls usually open before work and close well after.

I didn’t bother to register

This was really stupid of me because registration is so easy. You just sign a card, and you’re done. All I had to do was take a few minutes and go do it. In retrospect, I should have done it with some friends while we were all in the car headed somewhere else. We could have stopped by and registered. It would have taken ten minutes

There wasn’t any place to park

This was a lie I told myself, which really meant that I would have to park somewhere and walk some distance. In retrospect, I wish I’d been less averse to a bit of exercise.

The line was too long

I still don’t like long lines, but I could have brought a book or magazine or something. Or even — gasp — engaged people in conversation. Maybe meet a neighbor. The people in line were from my community because we all had the same polling place.So this is my appeal to you. If you’re not registered, do it today. It’s easy. If you don’t know how, just go to Rock the Vote, and they will email you a form you can fill out and mail in. You’ll be registered. But it’s also easy for some of you just to go to your local county offices and register there. It’s free.

Then, on election day, go to your polling place. You’ll be told where this is, if you don’t already know, when you’re sent your registration confirmation. If it’s hard to park, take it as a personal challenge and find a place to park. Wait a bit if you have to, or walk a bit if necessary.

And be prepared to wait in line. Even if the weather is bad. Take an umbrella even if the sky is clear (it’s good for shade). Take a magazine or book. Or just start talking to people near you. Most of them will be glad to talk to you, and you might even learn that you live very near each other. Networking can sometimes pay big dividends. And who knows, if you go really early or at off-times, there’s often no line at all.

And finally, make sure you vote carefully. Some machines are weird, and even though you’re very intelligent, the machine itself is not. Make sure to follow instructions and don’t leave until you’re satisfied that your vote has been counted. If necessary, call someone over to check the machine. That’s what they’re there for.

Well, that’s it. This year, like no other before it, so much is riding on you. Please, please vote. Thanks.

2

You reminded me about something I keep forgetting to ask around here.

I just moved out of the US and I want to register to vote as an absentee voter. I knew another American here that was trying to register expats to vote but I never heard from her after I emailed my interest in registering.

The question is: where could I go? Is the embassy the only place or what?

Sorry to hijack. But I figured I ask now before I forgot again.

3

Go to Vote From Abroad. They will guide you through the registration process, and you can mail in the form.

4

I did a paper on this topic in college. One of the main reasons was the mobility of young people. You move around often and don’t update registration. In places that require ID to vote, often the ID has an old address on it.

Just make sure that you have everything you need. Current registration and whatever ID is required in your area.

5

I wasn’t sure if I was a young person anymore, but I am 29 and you list the upper limit as 30. I have been registered to vote and have voted in every election since I was 18. I don’t understand why my peers don’t. As an Oregonian, I don’t have to worry about long lines at the polling place. Oregon is totally vote by mail and has been since I was 20 or so. I voted absentee before that. As someone who doesn’t drive I wouldn’t have to worry about parking even if we did have polling places. As for plain old apathy or cynicism, I don’t understand it. My friends were excited about buying tobacco, lottery tickets, etc. when they turned 18. I was most excited about voting. Maybe it helped that I turned 18 during a presidential election year, albeit after the election was held.

6

To your list I’ll append: I’m not a citizen yet (and won’t be before the election), which is entirely my fault and I hope to have rectified in time for '12.

7

I am happy to report that I am a young voter. I’ve voted ever since it was legal. Hell, I even dragged my ass to the primaries this Spring knowing full well my vote didn’t count.

I don’t understand why young people don’t vote. They get all excited and passionate and then they don’t follow through. I remember Kerry was supposed to have this huge youth vote turnout… never happened. Now they say the same thing for Obama. I’m not holding my breath.

But rest assured, I’ll be there.

8

I’ve voted in every major election since I was legal, including voting via absentee ballot during college. (I usually skip primaries and such unless I feel strongly about a candidate or an issue.)

I think that a lot of people would be surprised how easy it is to do. I’ve never been in a line longer than ten people long (for at least three voting machines), never had to park more then a minute’s walk away, and have never to my recollection had to show ID (I know I haven’t had to since living in Jersey, but I don’t remember Pennsylvania’s rules that well).

9

I totally agree with Liberal :slight_smile:

I’m a young person (ok, old-young, I’m 29) and I am so proud to vote. I had to BEG my parents to vote! I get so mad that my dad fought in Vietnam and doesn’t exercise his right to vote. WTF dude? :frowning:

Anyway, voting is wicked easy now. I voted absentee by mail because I could. There’s a lot of places that help you register to vote. If you sign up for Barack Obama’s newsletter, you’ll get specific instructions on how to vote absentee, how to vote by mail and how to vote early if your state allows it. If you don’t want to sign up, I’m pretty sure you can visit his site closer to November and get all the info.

And it doesn’t matter who you vote for either. I just want to see everyone vote!

10

I hated this system when I lived there. Ballots would show up in my box for votes I had no idea were going on at all times. I lost my ballots because they would sit in my pile of unopened mail for weeks. I didn’t know where to mail them. Don’t misunderstand, I never missed a vote that I cared about, but this is not a good system for the inherently disorganized. I just wanted to go to my polling place on the appropriate day, wait in line, punch the ticket and slide it into the box. Then there was all of those damned propositions. I can’t believe that most of the people that voted on those propositions had any idea what the legalese meant. If I didn’t understand it, I didn’t vote on it.

FTR I voted the year I turned 18, and never missed a general election once. I even volunteer at the office of the candidate of my choice.

11

Well, I’ve got a spotty voting record.

In 2000 (I was 18) I voted for Bush :o
in 2004 I didn’t vote. It’s pretty easy to decide that in Mississippi because it’s was probably one of the last states to go Kerry’s way for sure
This year, I voted even in the primaries. I plan to vote in the general too. It’s cool though because it is the first time someone I supported in the primaries actually won, so I’ll be voting for sure.

Not voting is dumb. It comes from a very selfish idea that the entire world should bend to your will. Society is about compromise. I’m sure that 90 percent of the country wouldn’t like the America I’d create. Sharing a country is like sharing a house. It’s a relationship except writ large. Nobody gets exactly what they want, but in the end it works.

12

I have refrained from voting for two reasons:

  1. I’m not educated on the issues and qualifications of each candidate;
  2. I don’t care enough.

I’m pretty jaded when it comes to politics. I grew up like everyone else did, hearing all the idealisms about the system: “Vote! Make your voice heard! If you choose your leaders, you choose your future!” I still believe that who you vote for makes a difference in how you and everyone else lives. However, I’ve lost the belief that I, personally, have to take part.

I have not followed any election very closely. I watch CNN on Election Day and follow who is winning. I understand the process. But I don’t care enough to educate myself on the candidates and their stances on various issues, how they’d voted on things in the past, or any scandals related to them. I occasionally watch news footage or debates to get impressions of the candidates, but I never analyze them for contraditions with past speeches or anything like that. I follow the news, and I read about what’s going on. But I don’t invest a lot into it. It’s food for thought, but not much more than that.

Why? Because it doesn’t feel like it matters.

I’m not in the military. I deliberately choose large, liberal, coastal cities when I move. I don’t own a home or have kids. I have a job, and I and most of my family are in fairly good health and circumstances. It’s been this way for as long as I can remember. I don’t see any way the decisions of my country’s president can touch me personally, at least not to the degree that would make me feel it’s necessary to take action. For the most part, anything that I am against or disagree with that the President has the power to affect would be so unpopular that I wouldn’t need to step forward and protest.

I could educate myself and become more politically active. I have a cousin who is, and he’s got such energy and outrage and passion to change the world around him-- I admire it. But deep down, I know I’m not him. I would be going through the motions just out of a sense that I should care, not because I really do care. And where would that put me? What would I be basing my opinions on? I’d probably just become another parrot, adopting someone else’s viewpoints because they adequately resonated with me. And that is silly. I don’t want to become that.

Yes, this is selfish. I do not care enough about my government to take part. I don’t care enough to make educating myself in politics a priority. This, to me, is more troubling than me not voting. Not voting is not the problem, it is the symptom. But I can’t force something to be important to me if I can’t see its effect on my life. I can make exercise a priority for me because of the health and cosmetic benefits I would reap from it. I can’t make caring about politics a priority because I see no benefits in it, in both the short term and long term. I’m not proud of this, but neither am I ashamed of it.

I do not have any solutions. I don’t know what can be done to make politics more worthwhile to me.

I refuse to vote just for voting’s sake. I may not vote, but I refuse to tarnish the spirit of the system just so I can brag about how I voted! If I ever vote, I want it to be because I actually give a damn and want to have my say.

Would you rather someone like me, who does not follow politics and is not educated on the issues or the candidates’ stance on them, vote anyway? What would you have me base my choices on? Who looks better in a suit? Who’s from the same geographical area I am? Whose name sounds better? If anything, I think way too many uninformed voters vote, and we should care less about how many people vote and care more about whether people know what the hell they’re voting for.

Also, how is it expecting the world to bend to your will? If anything, it’s the opposite. It’s saying you are opting out of the input process and that you’ll going along with whatever everyone else decides. I see the selfishness in not voting, but I do not see how doing so places any expectations upon anyone else.

13

I’m glad you reminded me of that. I had meant to include it in my list of reasons I didn’t vote. And honestly, it was true almost every time that there wasn’t a dime’s worth of difference between the candidates. But this time is very different.

If McCain wins the election, he or his successor will appoint at least three Supreme Court justices. As it stands right now, there is a tenuous 4-4 split among liberal and conservative ideologues, with 1 justice usually (but not always) tilting the vote in favor of civil liberties. A McCain court will last for decades, and will almost surely overturn Roe v Wade, and maybe even gut habeas corpus. It will affect your children and their children. Their world will be less free and less secure.

He will ruin any hopes we have of weaning ourselves from the oil teat. He makes no secret of the fact that he intends to reward his big oil donors by opening up the possibility of offshore drilling off the coast of every state — something that won’t even find oil for many years and then won’t solve the problem any more than finding more heroin for an addict will solve his problem.

He brags that he knows how to win wars — despite that he has never won any. A man who believes himself to be a warrior will look for wars to start. He has already rattled sabres at Iran and North Korea, even as progress is being made in talks with them. He may very well immerse us in yet another war on a third front.

He has admitted that he knows very little about the economy, and he plans to cut taxes on the very richest individuals and corporations while doing nothing to help working people get by on what little government leaves them in pocket. His promises are so grandiose that they are laughable, and yet idiots belive them and intend to vote for him.

These and other things he brings to the table will affect you directly. This time, your usual reason for not voting does not hold up. I urge you with all my heart to reconsider.

14

The official website for doing just this:

I actually AM going to vote this year. The last election (or two) I wasn’t very passionate about either candidate. I just didn’t care. And because I was over seas, I never bothered with the absentee ballot.

This year though… I’ve donated about $100 dollars to my candidate! My friend and I have made calls for him to registered voters requesting their vote, I even mailed off my absentee registration this week.

Definitely taking part in this one!

15

Or you may think that overturning Roe vs. Wade is a good thing, and that McCain will continue this country on a course it needs to be on. In that case, vote for him - Obama WILL try and change the course (I happen to be an Obama supporter, but the thing about voting is you get to disagree).

I vote because I realize that there were black men and women who died to vote, women who went to jail to vote, people in other countries who still work hard lobby so their nations can be democracies - often at great personal risk to themselves and their families. If its so darn important that people die for it, the least I can do in repayment is to educate myself enough to make a decision and haul my ass out of bed an hour early to vote. Even if you are a white, landholding man - Patrick Henry put his life on the line so you could vote (at least in the U.S. - and his cry has rung through democracy movements since). Don’t take for granted what so many people over so many years have risked so much for.

16

As someone who has worked at the polls many times, let me second Liberal’s warning to be prepared to wait in line. There are going to be long lines this year. Some places around here had long lines in the primary, which is unheard of. The general is going to be bad.

No, no, don’t you know anything? It’s whoever’s taller, and/or whoever you would rather have a beer with.

17

I’m encouraging everyone I know to vote, not just because of the presidential race but because of prop 8 here in CA. (it’s the one to amend our constitution to ban samesex marriage…which we just got the right to!) That amendment prop has to GO DOWN.

18

If I have beer, everyone’s taller.

Good point, I forgot about that. I just found out this year I have two lesbian cousins, and so now I have a personal interest in the issue. Thanks for the reminder.

19

Good OP Liberal. Voting is absolutely important. Even if you aren’t young, even if you’re nearing the end of a long life.

Like my grandmother. She’s probably better informed than I am, watching TV in her nursing home, and reading the newspaper. And it takes a lot of work for her to read the paper, as she has to use a magnifying screen. My aunt is authorized to help her fill out her ballot.

How many elections? Well, this November will be her twenty-first presidential election. Grandma is 103, and doesn’t let that keep her out of the loop.

20

Tell me what you think I can do to help register young voters, practically and ethically: as a college professor/administrator, I probably come into contact with young voters --especially in early September, when I meet (or at least talk to) probably a thousand or so incoming freshmen.

I wonder if it’s ethical to get them to cast absentee ballots. “Of course it’s ethical!” I hear you say. “Do it!” But I wonder.

Since I’m such a strong Obama supporter, I’m asking myself why I feel so strongly this time around. I’ve been scrupulous about not interjecting my politics in the past, and I’m wondering if I’m considering changing my mind because I think young people are overwhelmingly going to vote for my candidate, and even the most civic-minded, non-partisan appeals to students to register, fill out absentee ballots, and vote will result in more votes for Obama.

So I wonder: should I continue to follow my non-partisan policy, or break that policy? I’m inclined to keep my record pristine, but it’s a tough call.