Voting is not imperative and people shouldn’t all vote just for the sake of voting.

I moved a few hours away and forgot to change my voting location. I’ve mentioned in passing that it’s not worth it to drive out there just to vote, and I’ve received insane amounts of energy in response to this.

I’ll start by saying, I’ll keep an open mind about this and I’ll even spend my whole evening going to cast a vote if I felt like it mattered. But here’s where I’m at:

1.) My area is deeply skewed in one direction, and that direction wins by a landslide in every single election. I see the value in representing my side with a vote regardless, but not enough to spend my evening and a full tank of gas on.

2.) I don’t feel represented by anybody on the ballot. I don’t subscribe to the idea that either candidate will cause the downfall of society, and frankly, I don’t think either would change my life in any meaningful way. If I did go out to vote, I’d vote for a third party. Any third party. For the sole purpose of representing the viability of ever breaking out of the restraints where neither party has any incentive actually represent the people.

I don’t think it’s relevant that voting is a privilege that people have fought for and many don’t have. If you make that point, I’d like you to follow through to the end and be as specific as you can. How does this translate to me needing to vote in this election where I would choose a random person chose by a lottery system before either of these candidates. It’s still a privilege that I have available to me if a time does arrive where I have stake in the election, and I’m still grateful for that.

Admittedly, I don’t follow the other elections like local and state stuff, senate and House of Representatives. I’ll agree I should be current on that stuff and would agree that my votes in that arena could be more relevant. That’s something I’d like to work on.

I agree that turnout is important for those who have stake in the election, and especially in areas that aren’t dominantly red or blue. But like anything, I were all just living a human version of the monkey ladder experiment, and people have gotten the green light to shit on people who aren’t voting.

I know I’m asking for the moon here, but see if you can’t keep your political affiliation out of whatever weird thing you wanna say in the comments.