moderate Tuesday

If you are a legal resident of any of the following places: Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Wyoming and American Samoa, today is a polling day. If you haven’t already done so, go vote. This is not merely about Presidential candidates. There are likely other important issues at stake on your ballots. Who gets to represent you at a local, county, state and federal, possible ballot initiatives.

I am sure my political views differ from some, possibly, a lot of you. At this point, that’s not important. What is important is that you do research and consider all your options. Sure you don’t like the other candidate, but can you articulate what your issues with them are, without resorting to ad hominem attacks? Or the three things you heard in your social media echo chamber? Are your candidate’s platform and promises realistic and/or executable? Are the people running locally, locally funded? Have the best interests of your community at heart? One of the major problems with elections is the cost. Getting elected costs money and no matter how noble the candidate’s intentions there comes a point when the piper comes a-calling. Where is your candidate’s money coming from? Do you trust the source? Have they historically had the best interest of voters at heart?

For some of you it’s too late, you’ve already voted. However today is not the end. These are the primaries, that means you have between now and November 1. That’s 245 days or 35 weeks to do the research on the people that you have to chose to represent you for the next two – six years and ballot initiatives that can affect your life and the lives of people around you. As someone who has been disenfranchised, don’t opt out of participating because you don’t like any of the candidates. There are a number of issues on almost every ballot, that will affect you if you don’t vote.