From the time I was old enough, I've never missed an opportunity to vote.
There was one time I forgot to turn the ballot over and missed voting for a candidate I was supporting, but I never made that mistake again and I've always made it to the polls.
Voting is important—especially in our republican form of government.
Republic: “A state in which the supreme power rests in the body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by representatives chosen directly or indirectly by them.”
But so often after elections — especially primaries and mid-terms — there's a lot of hand-wringing commentary over low voter turnout. It used to bother me when only a small percentage of registered voters went to the polls, but it doesn’t anymore.
On the last election day, I was listening to local news on the radio while taking one of our dogs to the vet (any excuse to mention the furbabies). I’d cast my ballot in early voting the week before.
The announcer said that if you didn’t know where your polling place was, you could find it by going to the station’s website.
Seriously?
If it’s election day and you don’t know where your polling place is, don’t vote. If you haven’t bothered to figure that out, then you probably don’t know enough about the rest of the issues to cast an intelligent, informed ballot — in fact, you probably haven’t even seen the ballot.
The requirements to vote in this country are minimal — essentially citizenship, age and residency. Nothing says voters have to be informed. But nothing puts our country at greater risk than an uninformed, uneducated electorate.
If people want to vote, if they care enough to take the time to educate themselves on the candidates and issues, then great — they should vote.
If they don’t, then they shouldn’t vote.
That’s my opinion. What’s yours? Share your thoughts below.
Jacquelyn's latest book is Christian Business Almanac: The Ultimate Daily Guide for Kingdom-Driven Entrepreneurs and Leaders.
She is the author of the nonfiction books Simple Facts About Self-Publishing (Second Edition), Words to Work By: 31 devotions for the workplace based on the Book of Proverbs and Finding Joy in the Morning: You can make it through the night as well as the novel Choices (A Joyful Cup Story). With her husband, she is the co-creator of several coloring books for adults and the novelty My Book About series.
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