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Perhaps it's just because I remember the 1960s, but voting has always seemed important to me. Those TV images of American citizens braving police dogs and fire hoses made a deep impression on me as a teenager -- I can remember thinking that voting must be a powerful act, if the Alabama
establishment was willing to go to such lengths to prevent it.
Over the years, other images, from South Africa to Venezuela and Afghanistan, have reinforced that perception -- that millions of people all over the world think it's worth the trouble.
Millions of Americans, however, apparently think it is too much trouble. Or perhaps it's something else that keeps them away from the ballot. Pollsters examine likely voters, but seldom tell us anything about non-voters.
Since they've fallen down on the job of informing us about the attitudes of this substantial portion of the public, it falls on me to offer the 10 reasons not to vote this year:
1) If 122 fewer Republicans had gone to the polls in Colorado's seventh congressional district in 2002, then we would not have had to endure all those ads which imply that the voters of Jefferson and Gilpin counties were really stupid to elect Dave Thomas as District Attorney. If you don't vote this year, you might well be saving us from something just as weird in 2006.
2) If you don't vote, then the lines are shorter for the people who do vote. They're busy, concerned people, and any assistance you give them should be appreciated.
3) If there's a heavy turnout and you don't vote, then you won't stand in line with your neighbors. I don't know how it works in other venues, but when we're standing in line at Chaffee County Precinct 2 in Salida, we often exchange catty gossip. Most authorities on morality and ethics decry the exchange of catty gossip, and so you will be a more ethical person if you avoid this temptation by staying away from the polling place.
4) If you don't vote, you won't run the risk of being excommunicated, or denounced from the pulpit as a tool of secular humanists or greedy userers. It's hard enough to know the right thing to do these days, and voting just adds to the confusion.
5) Back when Gov. Bill Owens was state treasurer, I heard him say that low voter turnout was not a major concern, since it indicated that people were fairly contented with the status quo. So if you're perfectly content with Colorado and America, why rock the boat by voting?
6) When you don't vote, you're trusting other people to make decisions about trade, transportation, taxes, crime and a host of other matters. In a time when mistrust is growing, you are setting a wholesome example by exhibiting your faith in others.
7)If you don't vote, then there's one less ballot to be counted. This reduces government paperwork and should mean that, over time, elections will be cheaper, thereby reducing taxes. Also, if your venue uses paper ballots, you can save trees by not voting. Further, fewer votes means that the results should be available sooner in a close election, and everyone will be grateful for that.
8)When you refuse to vote, you can totally ignore those mud-slinging negative ads, and thereby improve the overall public health by reducing your own stress level.
9)There are worries this year that some ballots won't get counted properly. If you don't vote, then you don't have to worry about your ballot.
10)When you vote, you might feel betrayed if you support a candidate who's for fiscal responsibility, then runs up huge deficits. If you don't vote, you avoid that risk and you won't be responsible for any mess that a politician makes.
So, there are many reasons not to vote. But since I'm an impure sort of person, I still plan to walk across the street Tuesday morning and stand in line and gossip with my neighbors.
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