A record number of people cast a ballot in the US Presidential Election in 2020. Despite this, the real number of participants came down to about two-thirds of eligible voters who went through making their vote count for either a viable candidate, an unviable third-party candidate, or a write-in toss away name that represents the damnation of major candidates and the process.
This played out in the county I live and vote in, but additional data about the inactive third is what captured my attention. Of the third of people who did not vote in my county, two-thirds were registered and could vote, and one third were not registered on November 3rd.
In my city, two years ago, we had a three-way race for mayor. On election day, I voted for the guy who came in third and missed out on the runoff. I didn’t vote in the runoff, pulled the ‘my one vote won’t make a statistical difference’ card since the guy I initially backed wasn’t in it anyway. In turn, I give little grief to the current mayor, beyond calling basic balls and strikes and calling out any significant lack of common sense since I did not participate in the full process.
There are plenty of reasons for not getting registered to vote. There are plenty of things that could have gotten in the way for registered voters to not apply for an absentee ballot or not get in line for early or election day voting.
But if these people want to complain about the outcome or give grief to the programs provided by the winner, I want them all just to shut up.
Your point to enter the process was at the ballot box. If you were barred from the ballot box, speak out about that. If you were not barred from the ballot box, your voice, as far as I’m concerned, is what is invalid.
Agree or disagree? Let me know at jclevelandpayne@gmail.com.