The Election Eve Post, 2025 Edition

Another Election Eve, already?

Yep. And this is my thirteenth ‘Monday-before-the-first-Tuesday-in-November’ post, trying to encourage everyone to vote.

Voting is arguably the most important right we have. After all, it’s the only chance we have to determine who will lobby on our behalf in the halls and backrooms of government. And it’s really the only time many of the folks we elect pay any direct attention to us. Absent elections, would incumbents or their challengers bother with the mailings, phone calls, town halls, surveys, and personal visits? Would we hear from unions and so-called ‘interest groups’ if they weren’t trying to get us to vote for their favorite? Pretty sure we all know the answer to that.

But voting is also among the least respected of our rights, and that’s incredibly frustrating to me. Between efforts to limit who can vote, how we can vote, where we can vote, what we can and can’t do while standing in line to vote, and gerrymandering and redistricting, where the politicians try to choose us, instead of us choosing them. 

Add in the many ways in which our voices and our ability to influence candidates have been overwhelmed by all money flowing from in from PACS, political parties, corporations, lobbyists, business organizations, unions, billionaire donors and all the rest, especially all the money from outside the district where we are supposed to pick representatives, and I get why people might throw up their hands and say, “Why should we even bother?”  

We should bother because every vote matters in every election. We should bother because the more people stay away, the more the powers-that-be will think they can do whatever they want. We should bother because the more we participate, the better our chances of holding the people we elect accountable. We should bother if we care at all about the direction our schools, villages, towns, cities, counties, states, and the federal government are heading. 

And finally, we should bother because if we don’t, we’ll more often than not end up having to choose between the lesser of two or more bad candidates, instead of between the best of two or more good ones.

And wouldn’t that be a wonderful problem to have? 

I offer below my annual motivational message, in case you're still on the fence about exercising your right to vote.

After some thought, “I have come to the conclusion that politics are too serious a matter to be left to the politicians."(1)  Actually, “The idea of an election is much more interesting to me than the election itself…the act of voting is in itself the defining moment.”(2) And why is it that “When the political columnists say ‘every thinking man’ they mean themselves, and when candidates appeal to ‘every intelligent voter’ they mean everyone who is going to vote for them”?(3) 

We know it’s true that “Bad officials are elected by good citizens who didn’t vote”(4), and that “A citizen of America will cross the ocean to fight for democracy, but won’t cross the street to vote in a national election.”(5) Do we still not realize, after all these years, that “lower voter participation is a silent threat to our democracy… it under-represents young people, the poor, the disabled, those with little education, minorities and you and me”? (6) 

After all, “the vote is the most powerful instrument ever devised for breaking down injustice and destroying the terrible walls which imprison men because they are different from other men” (7) and “to make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not just observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.” (8) 

And complain we do, after every election when 'the wrong guy' wins. If the only people who complained were the ones who voted, it’d likely be a lot less noisy, don't you think? 

Some folks may not vote because they don't know how to decide who to vote for, or they're afraid they'll vote 'wrong.' There are a couple of different schools of thought on that. On the one hand, some might think that.

“Politics is the art of the possible” (9), while others may subscribe to the thinking that “politics is not the art of the possible, it consists in choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable. And it is true that the great thing about democracy is that it gives every voter the chance to do something stupid.” (10) 

Said another way, a “Vote (is) the instrument and symbol of a freeman’s power to make a fool of himself and a wreck of his country.” (11) But that’s OK – “personally, I believe that our American system works as long as you participate in it. You must vote and make your voice heard; otherwise you will be left out.” (12) 

It’s generally true that if you “ask a man which way he’s going to vote and he’ll probably tell you. Ask him, however, why – and vagueness is all.”(13) But voting’s really easy; and “all voting is a sort of gaming, like checkers or backgammon, with a slight moral tinge to it, a playing with right and wrong.” (14) And just about everyone likes to play a game now and then, right? 

The bottom line is, “voting is simply a way of determining which side is the stronger without putting it to the test of fighting;”(15) “voting is a civic sacrament;”(16) and “the future of this republic is in the hands of the American voter.”(17) 

And remember, if all of that seems like too much pressure, you have an out: “Vote for the man who promises least. He’ll be the least disappointing.” (18) 

Please, vote. It really does matter, this year and every year. Honestly, "there is no such thing as a vote that doesn't matter."(19) Besides, "not voting is not a protest. It is a surrender." (20)  

My final pitch?  "Talk is cheap, voting is free; take it to the polls." (21)

If you need information on where to vote, help with your ballot, or any other assistance, contact your local Board of Elections. Lots of people are out there, ready and willing to help. 

 If you're an early voter and have already done your civic duty, thank you! If you're not going to be around on Election Day and voted by absentee ballot, thank you! And if you vote the old-fashioned way, by showing up at your polling place on Election Day like I do, thank you!  

And thanks to these folks for their words of wisdom: 1 - Charles De Gaulle; 2 – Jeff Melvoin; 3 – Franklin P Adams; 4 and 13 – Andrew Lack; 5 - Bill Vaughan; 6 - Nancy Neuman; 7 - Lyndon B Johnson; 8 - Louis L’Amour; 9 – Otto Von Bismarck; 10 – Art Spander; 11 – Ambrose Bierce; 12 - Mari-Luci Jaramillo; 14 – Henry David Thoreau; 15 – H.L. Mencken; 16—Theodore Hesburgh; 17 – Dwight D. Eisenhower; 18 – Bernard Baruch); 19 - Barack Obama; 20 - Keith Ellison; 21 - Nanette L. Avery