Whatever you think of activism and policy, you should vote. Whether you’re a policy wonk or a flash game addict, there is some issue that is important that the folks that get elected will decide, and you should vote. And whether you’re a senior citizen on a fixed income, a parent with kids in the public schools, or a student dealing with college funding, you should vote.
Yes, it’s ‘just’ an off-year, local election – but in some ways those are more interesting, as you can choose the flavor of the candidates a lot more closely, particularly with a pile of local elections not so dependent on media reporting and national opinions. Plus, it’s excellent practice for ‘vote early and vote often’, and if you don’t think there are enough contenders, the solution is not to avoid the election – it’s to talk about it and make sure people know that it happened so that its profile goes up. And if a lot of young people vote in this election, that makes it more likely for issues we care about to be brought up – particularly with the local level. These are the people that will run our schools (and even if you aren’t in the schools, don’t you want good ones?), the people that run our public transit (and you definitely use that), and the people that decide drink taxes (ditto).
Vote because the Library initiative is on the ballot, and voting yes is a great way to help sustainably support a phenomenal community-centering organization.
Vote because there will be a pile of offices to vote for, and hitting more buttons is fun.
You can find your polling place here. The voters guide for Pittsburgh is available here (and if you’re from somewhere else I’m amazed you’re reading this, but the second link has a zip-code based search). If you are in Allegheny county and are environmentally oriented (again, curious if you’re not), you might have a look at the movement to write in Dana Dolney for County Executive.
With this being a local election, the fate of the world is not at stake here. It’s more the stuff that’s closest to home (and shouldn’t that be more important?). But you should vote anyway – it’s the only way to absolutely have a say in policy, and it’s a right that none of us appreciate enough (see also: much of Africa).
If nothing else, vote because it makes the poll workers really happy. And they’re your neighbors, even if you don’t know it, so making them happy is a nice thing to do.
[Reposted with adjustments from the original post on May 16th, 2011]
