In 2014, the pundits and talking heads all tsk-tsk-ed. And they all agreed, “Democrats are horrible at voting when a presidential election isn’t being held. They’re complacent. Or lazy. Or something. And whatever it is they are, the result is — they just don’t vote unless a president is on the line.”
Well, last night proved something. When a lot of people — no matter what their party affiliations might be — vote, Democrats win! Virginia, a southern state proved it. Ala-dam-bama-for-gosh-sakes! proved it. And do you know why? Because there are more Democrats or Indies who lean Democrat in this country than there are Republicans or Indies who lean that way. It’s that simple.
Maybe Democrats aren’t lazy or complacent after all. Maybe they’re just more cynical than Republicans. Maybe more of them believe their votes can’t really, possibly, matter.
Well last night proved every one of the cynics wrong. Just like the pundits said, “Last night was all about turn-out and turn out the people did.” And today we are celebrating.
But we MUST NOT let the celebration be the end result. There’s too much at stake.
So here’s how we make sure to do this again. And again. And again: if you’re not signed up to vote absentee, go online NOW and set that up. If you take that one simple step, you’ll never miss another election. You’ll be able to sit down at your computer with a cuppa and your ballot and google every candidate and every initiative before setting pen to paper. And that’s a major point — you will have a PAPER BALLOT which is far harder to hack than a voting machine.
You won’t have to travel farther and stand in long lines when the Republicans decrease the number of polling places in your state. After all, the most convenient polling place in the entire world is your own mailbox.
When we vote, WE WIN! So just do it!