California graphic designer @lenawolffstudio printed lots of these Vote posters, with help from a Kickstarter campaign, and sent them around the country. If you want a few for 2020, contact her or email suzannesmom@lunaandstella.com.
Why is it that some Americans don’t take advantage of the greatest right and duty of living in a democracy — the vote?
Some people say one vote doesn’t count, but that makes no sense. Millions of votes are made only from many, many one-votes. And many races are extremely close.
Others don’t see anything on the ballot — candidate or ballot question — that they care about. But just showing up is important. It increases overall turnout, which shows we care, and you can always write in a name. I’ve done that in races where only one candidate was on the ballot.
Some people fear election results will get hacked, but at least one expert, the executive director of the Center for Election Innovation & Research, says so much work has been done since 2016 that the polls are now the most secure they have ever been. Read his op-ed.
Then there is the question of getting registered (having automatic registration for those getting a driver’s license would really help) and then getting to the polls. Volunteers from your party will give anyone a ride who needs one, you know. And many states let you choose your day by having absentee voting (generally by mail) and early voting (staff waiting for you at your town hall). In addition, you could support those who are trying to make Election Day a national holiday so fewer people are tied up at work.
The biggest concern to my mind is vote suppression. There have always been groups trying to keep some people from voting. This year we are seeing restrictive laws in North Dakota preventing tribes from voting by requiring all individuals to have street addresses, which Indian reservations don’t usually have. And in Georgia, where the man in charge of voting wants everyone to vote for him to be governor, we see massive vote suppression for inconsistent punctuation and challenges to recent naturalization. These kinds of tricks are similar to those that were still keeping African Americans from voting in the South in the 1960s.
People died for your right to vote.
Since voter suppression will probably always be attempted by unscrupulous people, the best thing someone who believes in democracy can do is to keep donating to organizations that take such people to court, like the American Civil Liberties Union. There will always be people who don’t want every eligible citizen to vote — the bedrock of democracy — but you can fight back. Even small efforts count. In Kansas, for example, the Dodge City polling place was moved a great distance from where voters lived, but many ordinary folk stepped up, and now there are enough volunteers to drive everyone to the distant polling place.
One and one and 50 make a million.
New York City subway mosaic: She voted.
Suzanne's Mom's Blog 
Yay for this blog post! I voted early in Arlington at our town hall last Wednesday. I love the voting sticker on the mosaic in the subway! Tonight I am giving $3 amounts to a bunch of different close campaigns around the country as one more tiny drop in the bucket/grain of sand on the beach… Deep breath in. Deep breath out.
Oh, good for you, Will. Trying to breathe calmly here, too.
My ballot was the first one scanned at our polling place this morning! But there were lots of people there, even at 6 a.m. And now we wait . . . and hope.
Oh, good for you! You were serious about how important this is.
Thank you. Voting is our right and our privilege. Only by voting can we effect change, I fervently hope that by midnight on November 6, 2018 enough of us who support liberal democracy in the largest sense will have made our voices heard at the polls. In Boston, it’s hard to have a good excuse for not voting, as our polling places are many and conveniently located in our densely inhabited
neighborhoods.
My mother ran for Congress twice, and voting was a regular part of out lives. The only times I haven’t voted is in small local elections where I haven’t kept up on the issues. Now I will.