Why You Should Vote Even if It "Doesn't Count"

 

This image is intended as an example, NOT an endorsement

Due to the electoral college, as described in my previous post, there's a notion among a lot of Americans that their vote doesn't "count" unless they're in a handful of so-called swing states that frequently vary in which party wins them, or those two states that apportion electoral votes based on final percentages. I'm here to tell you why that's not the case.

First, let's look at the three biggest reasons your vote "won't count":

1. You're a conservative in an overwhelmingly liberal state like California.

2. You're a liberal in an overwhelmingly conservative state like Wyoming.

3. You hate both major-party candidates equally, think they will do equal damage to the country, but you might like one of the third-party candidates better.

The most important reason to still vote, as should be obvious, is the other stuff on the ballot that isn't the presidential vote. Some of it is hard to get any info on. Sometimes you won't have the most educated possible opinion. But do you know who will, and will always vote for those things? All the worst people in the world, paid off by moneyed interests to do so. You can usually tell which initiatives will pass in California by how many TV ads there are. It's sad, but people vote based on those. Do a tiny bit more research and you'll be smarter, if not happier necessarily.

I never put down third-party voters, because they can be on my side on the down-ballot stuff. Nor should you.

Here's the other thing: you know all those opinion polls that most politicians govern by? Most are based on representative samples, like a group of 1,000 people meant to represent you and everyone in this country. Election day, give or take some assumed fraud on the fringes, is the only poll that takes everyone's view into account. Everyone that participates, that is. If the 40-or-so percent who are eligible to vote but don't came in and voted "none of the above," that would be a major news story. Even if they don't, people study the results to discern what the public is thinking. If one candidate wins overwhelmingly, it's a different story than if they do so by a thread.

Your opinion matters in that poll. In so many others, it does not.

Participate.