Voting today

Yesterday ‘early voting’ started here in South Carolina so it’s time for me to do my civic duty. I’m off to the poll in just a couple of hours, way ahead of the actual “Election Day” on Tuesday, November 8th.

Most states have early voting now and I think it’s a great idea to make it as easy as possible for citizens. Most have mail-ins and some have drop-off voting too. There are lots of ways to get your vote in and people have no excuse for not participating. As I have always said, if you do not vote you do not get the right to complain. But better yet, if you do not vote you do not get the opportunity to make our country better.

I have always taken voting seriously. I have taken it seriously even when I have lived in counties and states that usually go opposite my choices. Even when I feel like my vote doesn’t leave the county I live in and when I get frustrated by it. That seems to happen frequently.

This election seems more serious than most. Maybe it’s just me, but I feel a heavier weight riding on the outcomes from this Election Day. Obviously, the Supreme Court reversal of Roe has many, including me, upset and wanting to get back to allowing women the right to choose. But also on the ballots across the country are candidates who still deny the truth in the last national presidential election. Even though lawsuit after lawsuit, case after case, has shown that President Biden received the most Electoral College AND popular votes, there are people denying this truth and running on lies. Now the cynic is me says that all candidates lie, and to some extent it is true that promises are made that never get accomplished. But, the extent of blatant lying, and wacky beliefs, and fringe loudness is over the top these days. So, voting by the reasonable people becomes a ‘must’ so we can keep sanity in our system.

Our system. Some think I might be over dramatic when I worry about the democratic system. But I do. We are living in a time when forces are working to stop a true democracy, and prefer to see autocratic leadership. We came close to this during President Trump’s term, but thankfully he was too scatter-brained, and he had a revolving door in his administration. He could not accomplish what his ego wanted.

When I think back on how Trump said the election was rigged BEFORE it happened, and how he tried to declare himself a winner before all the votes were counted, and how for months after (and really up to now) he declares he won – and cites lies about voting machines, and hidden suitcases of votes, and then tried to create new Electoral College voters, and to top it all off, he threatened his own Vice President to stop the final count and approved of and led an insurrection to the Capitol. If that isn’t someone trying to undermine democracy I don’t know what is! (And if you don’t believe all those things happened then you are living in a world not based on realities, and are accepting the lies.) I truly hope justice happens for Trump. He has created so much heartbreak and divided us all beyond what I thought could happen.

Yes, democracy is being threatened when we have people put into our heads that the voting system in America is tarnished – when those with a megaphone purposely try to get us to question if our vote counts, and if we truly elect our leaders.

That’s why this mid-term election is so important. Yes, we want our taxes to be used well, and we want medical and pharmaceutical needs to be reasonably priced, and we want our cities to be safe, and we want gas prices to go back down some. We want immigrants to be properly vetted, and we want our veterans taken care of in all their needs, physical and mental. There are countless issues facing America – and you can vote for the candidates who reflect your personal approach to solving some of the problems.

I have heard on the news that early turnout to vote is big – already bigger than in past elections. That gives me hope that the sane Americans are pushing back. I think those who never worried before are worried now, and I hope that is why bigger numbers are turning out.

I’m voting today – but will have to wait until November 9th, or later, to know the results. Michael Moore said the other day he thinks this will be a huge vote for democracy – and I hope he is right. We need to start getting past this loss of faith in the system, and we need to stop those out there trying to make it continue.

How to do it?

Go vote!!