The last thing any of you want is to hear who I think you should vote for. At this point (see: on the day of our provincial election), you likely know exactly who\u2019s earned your ballot, and nothing I could say or do would convince you to change your mind.<\/p>\n
Which is fine! That is your business, and it\u2019s not you, the decided voter, I\u2019m particularly worried about. (Also, I just don\u2019t have time to get into a political debate right now, though I will urge you to make sure your candidate\u2019s views on issues outside of taxes align with your own.) Ultimately, it\u2019s anyone still waiting and debating and deciding whether they should actually vote at all who have me concerned.<\/p>\n
Maybe you don\u2019t think your vote doesn\u2019t matter. (It does!) Maybe you hate every candidate. (Too bad!) Maybe you\u2019re just too busy today. (We can solve this!) Maybe you really don\u2019t care who wins at all. (That\u2019s a massive bummer, because apathy tends to suggest you are very privileged and insulated!) So in a Hail Mary attempt to make you head to the polls, here\u2019s why you should 100%, absolutely vote.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s your right!<\/strong> You get three hours by law to do it<\/strong> You bring the family if you need to<\/strong> Even if you lose your voting information card, you can still vote!<\/strong> If you don\u2019t vote, you don\u2019t get to complain<\/strong> You\u2019re a grown-up!<\/strong> So look: you don\u2019t have to be jazzed about the candidates. You don\u2019t have to take a selfie with a \u201cvote\u201d banner. You don\u2019t have tell anybody who you voted for if that\u2019s not something you\u2019re into. But you have to vote. You don\u2019t have a reason not to. And about a million reasons you should.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The last thing any of you want is to hear who I think you should vote for. At this point (see: on the day of our provincial election), you likely know exactly who\u2019s earned your ballot, and nothing I could say or do would convince you to change your mind. Which is fine! That is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67426,"featured_media":113365,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[81718],"tags":[83613],"class_list":["post-113363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pop-culture","tag-anne-t-donahue-musings"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\nYou know how big a deal that is? People all over the world are dying for this right. Women fought hard for this right. Now imagine it being taken away from you. You\u2019d lose your mind. And rightfully so! You get to have a say in who our leaders are. That\u2019s a big responsibility. You\u2019re important.<\/p>\n
\nWhich means that you can get out of work today should you need to. No employer can say, \u201cToo bad, you can\u2019t vote.\u201d Not a soul! Nothing can stand in your way!<\/p>\n
\nThis is a fact I think is important because both my parents worked, and so many election nights of mine were spent hanging out with them while they cast their ballots. Especially since here\u2019s the thing: polling stations run smoothly. You\u2019re in, you\u2019re out, it\u2019s usually been under ten minutes. What we see in the States is not what happens in Canada. Voting is but a pitstop en route to Pizza Hut.<\/p>\n
\nI know this because I have lost mine before, and because if you didn\u2019t yours, you can still head to where you\u2019d vote with two pieces of ID and do the thing. No one is going to stand up and scream \u201cDemon!\u201d at you. No one is going to shame you. It\u2019s all very easy \u2013 and actually easy, not in the veiled way we say it when presenting someone with an impossible task.<\/p>\n
\nYou don\u2019t. You just don\u2019t. If you sit out one of the most important arguments, you don\u2019t get to throw your thoughts in long after the deed is done. A vote means you get to be accountable. You get to condemn the elected officials who work for you (thank you) and you get to praise them when they do a good job (you\u2019re welcome). No vote, no argument.<\/p>\n
\nIt\u2019s weird to be a grown-ass person. As a teen, my friends and I really liked to blame our parents for everything and then package that blame and stick it under the umbrella of \u201cthe government.\u201d In short, we couldn\u2019t vote, had very strong opinions, and could do absolutely nothing to exercise our voices because we were also terribly disorganized and just wanted to skateboard at the plaza. But now we\u2019re the ones in charge. Elected officials work for us, and we decide how things are going to go and what we\u2019re going to back and what we\u2019re going to put a stop to. You know how cool that is? It\u2019s cool! Being a responsible, engaged citizen isn\u2019t just a blip on our existence. It\u2019s not \u201cadulating,\u201d it\u2019s being a goddamn adult.<\/p>\n