What I’d Say to Someone Who Didn’t Vote

This article originally appeared on the blog Everyone Except You in November 2018.

1. It’s not your fault – and you’re not alone.

It never hurts to start from a place of understanding and openness - you know, when you’re trying to get a bunch of people to do something. We also can’t responsibly have this conversation without acknowledging the wide spectrum of accessibility to voting in this country.

Voter suppression in the USA is real, and unlike many developed countries across the world, voting isn’t mandatory.

Not to mention the pressure of the peers. You, the metaphorical “you” who doesn’t vote, were perhaps not given the example of voting regularly by your parents, or your community, or when you got older, your friends. In my own admittedly tiny bubble of mostly well-educated/politically active friends and family, my social media feeds practically rained with “I Voted” stickers and selfies last week; voting is an expected, applauded civic duty. But it’s not that way for everyone, depending on where you grew up, and how your family raised you. We’ve all met people who just “aren’t political” (which is an entire other essay on privilege, for a different day).

If voting were legally required, like in Australia and about 21 other countries, if Election Days were a National Holiday (and if that included all those fast food restaurants and retail chains that still make their employees work holidays), if finding your polling place and voting in general (absentee ballots included) were the most user-friendly, simple thing in the world to do  - then I would shame you for not voting. But the fact is, our country has allowed, and even encouraged nonchalance towards politics, not to mention has specifically not allowed, nor encouraged the process of voting to become any easier, especially for people of color (see: Georgia Secretary of State/gubernatorial candidate Brian Kemp purging hundreds of thousands of eligible voters from the polls, 70% of whom where Black; North Carolina’s Voter ID law which was struck down by the court for being blatantly fucking racist - in their own words, for targeting “African Americans with almost surgical precision”; North Dakota barely even trying to hide itself restricting the vote of Native Americans). Which brings me to my next point:

2. Because “ThEy” don’t want you to!! (and it goes all the way to the fuckin’ top!)

Our own President tweeted out some classic voter intimidation before these very Midterms, threatening anyone accused of voter fraud with the “maximum criminal penalties allowed by law.” Not only is there basically no evidence of voter fraud, there are actually myriad examples of voter suppression, embedded throughout the country’s more shameful part of its political history, but also in the most recent Midterm elections (see: Georgia, Florida, extensive shenanigans).

The way I see it, anything the proverbial “they” don’t want you to do (but in this case, it’s like, always the GOP), is something you should do. Your vote might not swing it enough to the left. Your candidate might lose anyway. Your vote might get lost in the fucking mail. Or not even counted because SHENANIGANS. But that’s why you keep doing it, and keep voting for people who are going to make voting easier and more accessible to working people, disabled people, elderly people, people of color, and the dang youths.

The people in power stay in power when the people not in power don’t vote.

Now that we’ve gotten through the whole Good Will Hunting “it’s not be your fault,” but you should still do it spiel, it’s time to dip our toes into some light guilt-tripping:

If you’re a woman, POC, or both, people literally bled and died for your right to vote. How ungrateful you’d be to toss that right aside. Never in my life have I yelled at a girl like this!

Just kidding - but it never hurts to learn your country’s (and your people’s) history so that you don’t put dishonor your ancestors, or your cow. And even if you’re a white dude, your forefathers dumped tea in a harbor and fought a whole big war for you to be represented fairly (and you got a whole 5/5 instead of just 3 - don’t be wasting that shit).

There’s a reason this country makes it so hard for black people and Native people to vote. First, it was racism, and now it’s racism, plus Republicans being able to win a lot easier without those voters (because their candidates are racist). That’s stupid! And unfair! And we should be doing everything we can to fight that - and that starts with VOTING, for candidates with progressive platforms, for easier access to voting, against Voter ID laws, against gerrymandering, for a new Voting Rights Act, for democracy!

For Freedom!!!!!

*Braveheart soundtrack plays*

3. It’s fun!

You did something! A sense of accomplishment is a cute moment for a Tuesday in November.

And it’s not even hard! (Unless of course, you are indeed a victim of aforementioned voter suppression). In many states, you can vote early and/or via mail; going in person on Election Day never has taken me more than about twenty minutes. Even if that’s not the case for your voting area, you can alleviate some of the stress of making time for it by speaking to your employer about it ahead of time, and creating a voting plan. Devise a workable scheme with a friend who will keep you accountable, or at least hang out with you in line.

If you’ve never voted before, and don’t know how it works, or who you should be voting for, you’re in luck! The Internet exists, and on it, there’s a fuck ton of helpful info about your polling place, your ballot, as well as several extensively-researched voting guides: candidate and ballot initiative recommendations, from the DSA to the Tea Party (I assume), telling you exactly who to vote for and why, from governor to school superintendent to all of California’s crazy Props. I mean, you can absolutely do your own research and make your own conclusions based on your own internal belief system and set of values - I’m just saying you don’t HAVE to.

Bring that cheat sheet right into the booth with you, punch some black holes onto a high school-nostalgic scan-tron (or however they do it where you live), throw that baby in the ballot box, pop a festive sticker on your blazer, and you’re outta there!

4. It’s never too late to start – and realize your input matters.

You can always still vote! I mean not in the Midterms, the Election is over - but you can still vote the next election, and the one after that, and the one after that, until you die and no longer have to worry about climate change. The ballot box doesn’t care how old or out of touch you are, it doesn’t know what you look like or what you stand for until you tell it so.

And I get the old “my vote won’t matter” mantra, especially when you live in a place that you know will go blue anyway (or red, anyway). Sometimes, seeing the results come in, I’m watching thinking, “if I didn’t vote, that number in the high ten thousands would only be one less…” 

But of course your vote matters. I can’t not bring up the state senate candidate in Vermont who won her primary by exactly one vote. Not to mention all the would-be 2016 voters who reportedly didn’t show up to the polls because everyone thought Hillary was going to win. 2016 is a case example of why you still show up even when you think, or “know” your candidate or side will pull through.

And I know the American political system makes it so that there are basically only two options - and for many years these options seemed like two sides of the same bullshit. But the more people with diverse opinions who vote, especially at the state and local levels, the more options we have - for third (and fourth and such) parties to start winning city council seats, state Congress seats, and so on up the ranks. (Because as Dan Savage once wisely pointed out, you can’t just throw a Green Party presidential nominee in the ring without the built-in infrastructure that the Republicans and Democrats have both developed over yeeeeears; third parties have to start from the ground up and gain momentum - like everyone else!).

5. Understand it’s not the only way to participate in changing your community for the better.

Last but not least, if you really think your vote doesn’t matter, great news! Voting is only a tiny sliver of the great woodwork of possibilities that is political action.

You can still get involved in politics and make maybe even MORE of a tangible difference – things like volunteering on a campaign or in your community, attending protests and local activist meetings (orgs like Black Lives Matter, Indivisible, the Sierra Club all have chapters in cities all over the country) are all great options. Or if you’re like me, you can yell at people on Twitter who will never change their mind (I don’t recommend this one).

I mean, please vote, but if you don’t, don’t think that excuses you from having a say or being able to make progress in innumerable other ways. Every time I hear someone railing that the individual vote doesn’t matter, I wonder what they’re doing that does matter.

Bonus reason:

I mean, honestly, just read the news for like ten minutes.