When We All Vote, We All Have a Voice

When we all vote... When we all vote... When we all vote...

What happens when we all vote?

When we all vote, we send a message to those who lead us. When we all vote, we lead those who serve us. When we all vote, we proclaim our values. When we all vote, we whisper our concerns. When we all vote, we expand the conversation.

At least, that's what I believe on my best days.

On my worst days... well, let's not go there. Let's keep this positive.

So, today, on Voter Registration Day, let me talk a bit about voting.

When I turned 18, my Dad made sure I registered to vote. Yet, I didn't exercise that right. That first year, my birthday was so close to Election Day, I didn't think I had time to get an absentee ballot and I couldn't miss class to make the approximately 2-hour drive to vote and back again. It would've meant missing a test and therefore failing it. Besides I didn't feel knowledgeable enough to vote, or so I told myself. My Dad was sorely disappointed, and I hated disappointing him more than I hated not exercising my right to vote.

And yet...

I didn't vote the entire time I was in college. I felt like making the trip was too much trouble, and I never even considered getting an absentee ballot. I never felt like I was qualified to vote. I felt like my vote didn't matter. Don't let that happen to you. Be informed!

By the time the next presidential election rolled around, I was ready. I was going to vote...

But...

Oops! I got married and moved to a new city in a new county several months before the election, and I didn't know I needed to register again. By the time I figured out what I needed to do, I'd missed the deadline for registering. What stands out to me was the argument my new husband and I had. He was quite upset with me. He came from a country with a dictator, and he couldn't understand why I wasn't more upset about not being able to vote due to my procrastination. He also thought I should be more excited about voting, about being able to participate in choosing the governing body. He saw my lapsed registration as forfeiting my right to have a voice. Yet, all I could think was that there are consequences to not following the rules, and there was nothing I could do about it at that point anyway. Honestly, I was doubtful my vote mattered. As he described how it felt to live in a country where voting wasn't an option, I started to feel a new appreciation for my right to vote.

I started thinking about it. I recognized my own fear about my lack of knowledge. I recognized my own reluctance to make a decision that might be a mistake. I recognized how lucky that women had fought, protested, and suffered, so I, and other women like me, could have the right to vote. Still I felt shy about exercising that right.

By the time the next presidential election came around, I was registered in the new state we'd moved to. I'd also voted in other elections. We talk about midterms and, especially, presidential elections, but there are actually elections every single year. Often those elections are just as important and sometimes more important to our daily lives than the midterms and presidential elections.

I studied. I watched debates. I read articles. I knew the candidates. I knew their positions. I knew the issues. At least I thought I knew everything I needed to know. I got to the polling station to discover people and issues on the ballot I'd heard nothing about. I couldn't research them. I read the issues and found the description lacking. I wanted more information and a better understanding of those issues before I voted. But I voted.

Over the intervening years, and there have been several of them, I've tried to vote each year even in the small elections though there have been some smaller elections where I didn't.

Now that I live in Oregon, voting is much easier. I love our mail-in voting

system. There's no need to make sure I make it to the polling place on time. There's no need to get dressed up and go out in the cold. There are no surprises on the ballot. The ballot comes in the mail. A few weeks before the ballot arrives, I receive an election booklet that discusses the candidates and the issues. I know what to expect. There's time to do research. When my ballot arrives, I sit at my computer with the booklet and the Internet. I vote. I do research if there's something I don't feel informed enough to vote on. Every vote I make is deliberate, mindful, researched, and thought out.

I vote my values. My vote is my voice. Voting is where I can voice my values. I'm not a member of any party. I don't vote along party lines and have at one time or another voted for people from myriad parties. I vote my values. I don't demand perfection because I know from personal experience that obtaining perfection is impossible. However, I look at policy positions, positions on social issues, and how each candidate's values will impact my life and the lives of those I love. I repeat... I vote my values.

Voting is definitely my right, but it's also my responsibility. Voting without knowing what or who I'm voting for isn't an option. Voting for someone or for an issue because someone I respect wants me to also isn't an option. Voting based on charisma isn't an option. It's my responsibility to research every candidate and issue before I give them my vote or deny them my vote. That is the only way my vote truly represents my voice.

So what happens when we all vote?

When we all vote, we all get to have a voice. Even if sometimes it feels like we're screaming into an abyss... When we all get to have a voice, we open the lines of communication. When we all get to have a voice, we open the possibility of reaching new and interesting solutions by looking at what we all bring to the table. When we all vote, we create the potential to rise above the divisiveness that is so ingrained in our politics and find a way to be united.

I plan to vote this November and for every election for the rest of my life because I take my responsibility to use my vote to voice my values seriously.

My vote is my voice. Your vote is your voice. Even if they disagree, we both have the right to use our votes to voice our values.

Register. Vote. Voice. Values.

Then we can see what will happen when we all vote...