To Vote or Not to Vote…

As I mentioned before in an earlier post, the question on my trip shifted from “Who will you vote for?” to “Do you vote?”  I have tried to ask this after explaining some of the other answers I got, just so people don’t feel like I am putting them on the spot or trying to change their minds.  I am just curious.

Each person is different, of course, but of those who answered ‘no’, here are some of the answers I have received.

“No, I don’t have the time”

“No, I don’t know enough”

“No, I don’t want to encourage a corrupt system”

“No, I am an anarchist”

“No, my vote doesn’t count”

“Only in local elections”

“Yes, but for a third party”

On election day, 2004, I was in Cincinnati working as a poll monitor for Election Protection.  I knew Ohio would be critical and wanted to do my bit to help people vote.  At one point, I took a break and walked around the schoolyard, where the polling place was.  As I came back, I was stopped by a police car. The officer asked me who we were and what we were doing. I explained that we were non-partisan volunteers handing out information on voting rights. Apparently, someone had called the police complain. I let the officer know that he could get more information from our legal representative, and pointed to the lawyer in our group. The officer seemed satisfied and drove away without further ado.

After that, we discovered three police cars parked around the corner in the driveway entrance to the polling place. Being a predominately black precinct, we were worried that it would be intimidating to some voters. Our legal member went to talk to them and by the time I got my camera, they were gone.

Another thing I saw was a black man, coming out of a house and shouting to someone in a nearby car.  He was yelling, “I’m voting for Bush!  I’m voting for Bush!”

The person in the car said something I couldn’t hear, but the other man shouted, “I’m not voting.  My vote doesn’t count.”

I couldn’t resist.  I went up to the chain link fence that surrounded the school and shook it for attention.  I shouted back, “Don’t you realize that voting is your right?  Remember, there are many who died for your right to vote.”  I could see the passenger of the car. He looked at me and rolled his eyes as if to say, I’m not with this nutjob.  The nutjob started in again. “My vote doesn’t count. Not in this electoral thing! Maybe for a mayor or something, but not here. My vote doesn’t count!”  He went on and on for about 5 minutes.

I couldn’t stand it. As he stopped for breath, I stepped closer to the fence and addressed him. “You know, Ohio is a critical state. Your vote does count. And remember, people died so you can vote and so I can vote.”
This made him stop.  In a quieter voice, he said, “Well, yeah”, then walked away.

None of us involved in that little exchange had the right to vote when this country was founded.  Voting qualifications were left up to the individual states.  Voting was mostly reserved for white men with property, and it wasn’t until 1913 that anyone could vote for a Senator.  Since the states called the shots on who could vote, it took Constitutional amendments for non-landed males, blacks, Native Americans, 18 year olds and women to be able to vote.   Even now, you cannot vote in some states if you are a convicted felon or homeless.  You cannot vote in federal elections if you live in Washington DC.

And now, states are trying to go back to disenfranchising some people by enacting Voter ID laws.  People who don’t drive, students who have temporary residency, or anyone who cannot access their birth certificate may not be able to vote.  So, the young, the old and the inner city residents are all targets.

So, not enough time or knowledge to vote?  Excuses.  Don’t like the system?  Vote to change it.  Think your vote doesn’t count?  Some elections are won by a dozen votes.

Not voting or even voting third party is giving up.  It is giving up on ever changing the system that we have.