Pattye Benson

Community Matters

Today is Primary Election Day . . . Why Vote?

Candidates come and candidates go. Elections are won and lost. It matters that you vote. It is your voice – and the only person who can silence your voice is you. So applaud, complain, march, protest, petition . . . these are your rights but, without your vote, they are meaningless actions, backed up by nothing.

Why vote? So you can decide. Why let other people decide what is best for you when you have a voice: the vote. It’s your right.

Why vote? Young people, women and underrepresented groups all fought hard for the right to vote. Even today, there are countries where people are still fighting for the right to vote. Vote in honor of those who can’t.

Why vote? It is the way we change things. That is the way we reform the system and exercise our responsibilities.

Why vote? Because every voice counts. Try and appreciate the power of voting by exercising it!

Bottom Line: You should vote because you can!

Your right to vote is your right to expression and opinion. Do not take your right for granted.

Today is Primary Day and the Special Election . . . Did You Vote?

You have a voice, use it by voting. Polls open until 8 PM

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  1. “So applaud, complain, march, protest, petition . . . these are your rights but, without your vote, they are meaningless actions, backed up by nothing. ”

    I’m not so sure about this. Corporations can’t vote but their protests, petitions, and financial contributions (which the supreme court says is just a form of speech) make much more of a difference than my vote does. Your vote doesn’t “back up” your voice or your actions. They are independent.

    Many people who don’t vote do it deliberately. They don’t take the vote for granted but believe the political system in their country is so corrupt that voting simply provides a gloss of legitimacy on a system which no longer deserves it. If you think that you live under a “one dollar / one vote” form of government instead of “one person / one vote”, then very few of us have enough money to make a difference.

    I might disagree with that opinion, but I respect it.

    1. as you villify corporations (and profits too?) don’t forget those unions too. C’mon now. there is enough influence peddlling to go around.

      1. 1) Irrelevant. I’m talking about reasons for not voting, and you don’t like my examples, tsk, tsk. You think that for a corporation to exercise its legal right is villainous? I don’t at all, and I didn’t say it was.

        I’m all for profits (Where do you get these weird ideas?). They paid for my house and my kids college education.

        2) Union donations are actually contributed by individuals who have the choice to not pay that portion of their dues which go into these contributions. That right is clearly posted in their workplace. (It is in mine.) Corp. donations are based purely on Corp. goals and calculations and the laws which govern those. The goals and opinions of human beings don’t enter into them.

        3) Anyone who thinks that a corporation is in any sense a person or that financial contributions are the same as speech is not going to understand this opinion.

        1. you mean to say unions have no “power” in the political realm? Look at what has happened on the national level. I mean, its right there.

          Glad to hear you are not anti profit, but I wonder about your attack on corporations and we voters as being irrelevant.

          Happy your kids are college educated. I think. Have a nice evening

  2. Even having a vote is not having a “voice”. If you vote, you are one of hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, or more, doing the same thing. If you vote with with 1,500 people voting for the same thing, then you’re vote counts as .067%. That’s not having a voice, protests, money, and corruption is where the real “voice” is, and that’s pretty sad.

  3. Like she says…we vote because WE CAN. Those who take for granted our freedom to vote have not seen life where there is none. That is total despair with no prospect for a chance to make a better life for themselves. The lack of appreciation for what you have is where the danger lies. We need more “gratitude moments of perspective” and the lack of those is what’s sad. Please vote because you can.

    1. Just because you CAN vote doesn’t mean you have too, or even that you SHOULD. It’s a right, nothing more. Just like driving, just because you can drive does not mean that you should or have too. That is up to you if you want too. I vote, yes, but I don’t put it on other people that they have to or should, that is up to them and they can make that decision themselves.

  4. When I left the polls in Chesterbrook at 4pm, only 200 people had voted – they expect more by this evening, but said it will be a surprise if 500 people turn out. In this case, our votes count considerably – a new Supervisor will be elected based on the choices of a very small number of township residents.

    I wonder why those of us who fought so hard to promote equal voting rights and to lowering the voting age to 18 back in the day, haven’t been able to instill that commitment and passion in our children and grandchildren?

  5. We should raise the voting age to 25. 18 year olds are too young to vote. OKOK they fight in wars, and all sorts of stuff… (hope I cut that off at the pass).

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