Rock the Vote
12 years ago I stood in a line to cast my first vote ever for President of the United States. It was exciting and a little anti-climactic. I remember thinking both thoughts like "That's it? No bells? No one congratulating me for finally being old enough and caring enough to vote?" and "Whoo hoo! I am finally old enough to help decide who is going to run this country!"
I have voted in every Presidential election since then (and many primaries leading up to those elections). But what I still don't get is the apathy about voting that so many people in this country seem to have. I remember in my teenage years the innovative MTV campaign to get young people to vote. This year I have noticed that the effort to get people to vote has come in many flavors--from Martha Stewart urging people to get registered to vote on her daily show, to a whole story line on "Ugly Betty" focusing around the first time an immigrant to this country can vote.
So will turnout be better this year? Will the young people vote? If the line that I stood in for an hour for in-person absentee voting is any prediction, it looks to be a banner year for the democratic process.
Whoo hoo!
I have voted in every Presidential election since then (and many primaries leading up to those elections). But what I still don't get is the apathy about voting that so many people in this country seem to have. I remember in my teenage years the innovative MTV campaign to get young people to vote. This year I have noticed that the effort to get people to vote has come in many flavors--from Martha Stewart urging people to get registered to vote on her daily show, to a whole story line on "Ugly Betty" focusing around the first time an immigrant to this country can vote.
So will turnout be better this year? Will the young people vote? If the line that I stood in for an hour for in-person absentee voting is any prediction, it looks to be a banner year for the democratic process.
Whoo hoo!
Comments
I suspect there is a lot of indecision and also concern that the politicians from the 2 main parties are as bad as each other.
Hence, does not really matter whether you vote or not - there's going to be a bunch of crooks in charge of the country !