Go. Vote.

[swan_tower]

This year, voting is more than just the core responsibility of citizenship; it is an act of defiance against malicious political forces determined to reduce access to democracy.

It sounds like an exaggeration, but after the litany of attempts this year to suppress the vote -- ID requirements, shortened or eliminated voting hours, changes in polling places and the number of machines there, striking voters from the rolls -- I really don't think it is. If you're an eligible voter in the U.S., please go vote.

Nobody here will be surprised to find that I think you should vote for Obama. Of the two candidates, he's the one who stands for economic fairness, women's equality, QUILTBAG rights, corporate oversight, and not just bombing the snot out of any country we decide we don't like. But fundamentally, I care most about us having a functioning democracy. Go vote. Even if you live in a state that's guaranteed to go red or blue in the presidential election, there are state legislative positions, local offices, ballot initiatives, and more in which your opinion really does matter. Go vote. Please.

Comments

[d-c-m.livejournal.com]

Amen, here, here, and I will do my voting ritual tomorrow with great glee.

And of course I'm voting for Obama. My ovaries would rebel if I didn't. So would my brain.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Okay, the mental image of rebelling ovaries is . . . vivid. O_O

[d-c-m.livejournal.com]

Yes it is, isn't it?

But they've settled down now since I have cast my vote for Obama. :)

Go. Vote.

[livejournal.livejournal.com]

User d_c_m referenced to your post from Go. Vote. (http://d-c-m.livejournal.com/373705.html) saying: [...] Plus, I like to say that all the cool people are voting. :) Originally posted by at Go. Vote. [...]

[shakatany.livejournal.com]

I'll be at my polling place bright and early and of course I will vote for Obama and the Dems. I'm feeling that if a woman votes Republican she's either brainwashed or a quisling.

Shakatany

[mindstalk.livejournal.com]

Oooh, someone using quisling in the wild. Geeky undergrads I knew, now more like age 28, didn't know it.

I know a couple women who voted for Gary Johnson, and another who probably did.

[slashmarks.livejournal.com]

Too young to vote by one year. *wry* But my whole family's voting Democrat.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Next time, then!

[strangerian.livejournal.com]

In California there's a slateful of state and county and city initiatives in addition to federal offices, which also have a huge effect on The Future, so it's way important to vote on those as well. I'm really glad California is more or less guaranteed blue, but there's a lot else to get done. So I get up early and go vote, on election days. Actually, most people I know have already voted by mail, but I'm doing it the old-fashioned way at least once more.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Yup. The proposition process means we have a LOT of weird crap to vote on every time.

[chomiji]

You betcha I'm voting. In addition to the national election, we have a couple of super-important ballot initiatives here in Maryland.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

People all too often forget about that stuff, in all the focus on the presidential election.

[malsperanza.livejournal.com]

Voted absentee so I could spend the week in PA canvassing for O. Everything depends on voter turnout, so yeah: every vote counts this time.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

I feel like I should have signed up for some kind of GOTV effort.

[malsperanza.livejournal.com]

There's always another opportunity

[dr_whom]

"Quiltbag"? Is that a new one? I like it.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

It's the arrangement somebody finally came up with to standardize and streamline the whole LGBTQetc array. And yes, I like it, too.

[tiamat360.livejournal.com]

Absolutely will be voting today, and for the Dems. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, unless you are white, rich, male, strongly Christian, and straight, you are fooling yourself if you think the Republican party will do any good for you. Also, even more than politicians typically are, they're lying scumbags.

Also will be doing my part to strike down two hurtful proposed amendments.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Not that Obama is an angel who would never bend the truth, but the standards for duplicity set by the Romney campaign are just breathtaking.

[sarcastibich.livejournal.com]

QUILTBAG? I've not seen that variant of an acronym before, I'm used to the LGBTQ. What does your usage mean?

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

QUILTBAG (http://queerdictionary.tumblr.com/post/3899608042/quiltbag)

[jesse bangs (from livejournal.com)]

Obama's actual record shows that he is in fact very happy to bomb the snot out of any country we don't like, and continuing all of the Bush-era policies of indefinite detention, declaring citizens to be enemy combatants, maintaining a secret kill list, etc. Both candidates are completely disqualified from consideration by anyone holding a responsible ethic. The only responsible vote is a vote for no one (or a third party, which amounts to the same thing).

Do your part for democracy. Don't vote.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

The only responsible vote is a vote for no one (or a third party, which amounts to the same thing).

Sorry, but no. Abstention only passes the buck to other people, and increases the odds that I will end up with somebody who has, not only the problems you describe, but worse versions of them, and more problems of other kinds besides.

The only responsible vote is for the person who comes closest to the ideal you want to achieve. And then you keep pushing for it to be better.

[6-penny.livejournal.com]

Those who don't vote have no right to complain about any political results for the next four years. I've known enough people who were denied the right to vote - or to vote by secret ballot- in their countries, that I feel a double obligation to exercise my right to do so!

[jesse bangs (from livejournal.com)]

If your political views are reasonably well-represented by one of the major parties, then by all means go ahead and vote for them. In my case, I find that all parties are wedded to reprehensible positions that I am not willing to compromise on. So I vote for None Of The Above, and I do so loudly.

A democratic system derives its legitimacy from popular consent expressed via voting. To refuse to vote is to derive the system of one vote's worth of legitimacy. It's a form of protest just like any other.

(And, FWIW, I did vote on two state referenda and a local bond issue, so it's not like I refuse to vote entirely. I just refuse to be complicit in the crimes of either party.)

[edgyauthor.livejournal.com]

I'm totally with you on this. I mailed in my ballot last week. My mom voted, too--something she never used to do until I was able to vote for the first time four years ago. If only I could convince my older sister to vote, too...sigh.