junior government and politics major
Every season has its special saying. Over winter break, it’s “Merry Christmas.” On the Fourth of July, it’s “Happy Independence Day” or “’MURICA!” As we approach the end of election season, it seems time to break out another traditional saying: “My vote doesn’t matter.” If I had a dollar for every time someone has expressed that their vote means absolutely nothing, I probably could afford to pay off my student loans. It’s the election season spirit: “Who cares about government? The whole process is out of my hands anyway.”
As of Tuesday, this state’s gubernatorial race is within 2 percentage points. Yet the people who could make up that 2-point gap dozens of times over will stay home this fall. Overwhelmingly, people don’t feel as if their vote matters. If you’re one of those folks, keep reading. I’m not offering some preachy, philosophical argument for you to vote in this election or any other. I’m not even going to recommend who you should vote for. Let’s review why so many nonvoters feel as if they shouldn’t vote, and offer some blunt, albeit helpful, responses.
Complaint: “I only have one vote, and there are a lot of people.”
Response: Congratulations, you can count. You are in fact one person, and you do only get one vote. That’s how democratic government works, so you’d better go ahead and use your vote. What’s the problem with this outlook? If everyone felt that way, we wouldn’t have government that is even remotely representative. So if you choose not to vote, and your peers choose not to vote, how do you expect to make an impact or be represented?
Complaint: “Neither candidate says everything I want to hear.”
Response: Tough. As our parents told us growing up: “You don’t get everything you want in life.” Whether they were talking about fruit snacks or politicians, I’m not sure. We can be sure that not every election will give us a choice of good leaders or even morally sound candidates. But we can be sure that by pouting about candidates rather than voting for them, asking questions and doing some elementary research, we are wasting an opportunity to influence the decisions made on our behalf.
Complaint: “The country is really run by communists/Wall Street/the Illuminati/basically any other disliked group.”
Response: Where were you in ninth grade government class? Yes, there are a lot of groups that influence government policies. Whether it’s big business, labor unions or Super PACs, our government has its fair share of outside influences. But these groups never get a vote for who represents us. Fun fact: If you vote, you can help change who is part of the government.
In the world outside of our comfortable lives here in College Park, there are people who sacrifice everything for the right and responsibility of voting that we so casually discard every other November. See Hong Kong, Ukraine, Egypt or the thousands of Americans who have bravely served our country overseas. Why have people been willing to die for the right to vote? Do they realize something that perhaps many of us forget on Election Day? Yes. Our votes, and our lives, matter in the way our government operates. Seriously, go vote.
Sam Wallace is a junior government and politics major. He can be reached at swallacedbk@gmail.com.
