Vote or Don't Vote -Smart

Today's lecture, boys and girls, is about choosing to vote, or not to vote, on each candidate and on each issue on your ballot. Here's the problem: Virtually everyone that goes into the voting booth today will already know who is running for President and knows how they are going to vote. But, what about the other things on the ballot? Do you know who is running for Senator from your state? Or for Congress? Or for Mayor? Or Board of Supervisors? School Commissioner? And what about the 10 or 15 propositions on the ballot? How is passing or defeating each of them going to effect your life?

I have posed that question to many of my friends and the answers are actually a little frightening. I have a few friends, very few, who actually take time to read the pamphlets and learn about who is running and what the propositions are all about. But, most of my friends laugh it off and say they vote the party line or for whomever has a name they may have seen, or who has the same name as their favorite nephew. As for the propositions, they just read the title and decide yes or no based on that alone. The problem is, of course, that many titles are deceiving and there may be things in the propositions that wind up doing the opposite of what you would want.

The best thing is to take the time to familiarize yourself with each of the candidates ahead of time and decide who is most likely to vote or support legislation that you agree with. You should read the brochures that are sent out about 2 weeks before election day. They have every proposal listed and they also contain a summary of pros and cons which are written by the people supporting or opposing the proposal. Look those over and see which side you most agree with.

But, what do you do if election day is here and you haven't done that? What do you do if you have no idea who would make the best judge or best sheriff? Do you just go "eenie, meenie, minie, mow" and trust to fate?

No, the best thing you can do is "Don't vote at all". There is nothing that says you have to turn in a ballot where you voted in every section. If you do not know what's best for you, then don't vote.Casting you vote without knowing and you stand as good a chance as not of voting for something or some one you actually don't like. You may very well be doing more harm than good.

So, vote smart. If you know who you want for President and don't know anything about anything else on the ballot, vote for President and leave the rest blank. In other words, please vote, but vote smart!

Live Long and Prosper...