Are you going to the polls?

This week many will go to the polls to participate in local elections-mayoral races and council elections-and it will be a busy week for some incorporated communities, towns, and cities.  In our little town we will not have an election.  No one qualified to run for mayor or for the town council, so the present body will be certified for four more years.  Yet, in a neighboring town there is a hotly contested mayoral race that is taking shape and may be worth watching, with the long-term incumbent facing off with three others who are attempting to unseat him.  We are predicting a run-off in that election.

            Many will use every excuse to stay away from the polls on Tuesday.  They will use the same excuses they have used for years upon years.  Some of these are prevailing sentiments, which tend to grate on my nerves:

“There is not need for me to go and vote, when the thing is already decided.”

“I don’t have time to do that and get all of the others things done I have to do on that day.”

“A crook is a crook is a crook, and I don’t care what crook gets in office.”

“There is no one I like.”

“There is not selection.”

“It is a waste of time.”

            These are just a few of the excuses I have heard in my few years of following the election process.  I personally believe that people ought to vote, vote every chance they get, and stay informed as to every election.  That is the way I see it and I am sticking to my opinion.

            When I register to vote, I could not wait to go to the polls and make my mark on the ballot.  It was something I will never forget.  We were voting for a President that year and I felt as if I had been given power and the privilege of be a part of the process.  That feeling is the same today, as it was those many years ago.  I have only missed one election, and it was a run-off, since that day. 

            It is a right of passage for the young person, and it is a privilege to us who have been doing so for many years.  The opportunity to participate in the process of who will be the one holding the office is such a sacred and awesome privilege, one which many take for granted.  Not me, I want to be there and be a part of the process because it is both a right and obligation I have been afforded in this country, and one for which I am very happy to have.

            Some countries still have yet to enjoy this freedom.  They are told who will lead them and they have no say so in the matter.  They must bow and bend to the way of the government, doing whatever is said to do, when to do, hoe to do, and to accept what ever is given-like it or not.  How very grateful I am to live in America!

            Still the sad thing is the ones who do not vote, and in our county that averages out to almost sixty percent, want to enjoy the freedom to speak out about the decisions leaders make who hold offices.  They do not and will not lift a hand to help get someone into office, but you better believe they are going to speak up and speak out against the ones they refused to vote for or against some decision which is made that they do not like. 

            I still believe that if you do not vote, you need to stay quiet and let things be as they are.  By not voting, no matter what your reason is, you forfeit your right and privilege to have a say in the government you so easily disregard.

            Are you going to vote this week?