How I Wasted My Vote

This is not a political post. You can put your guard down.

Let me be VERY clear. The only wasted vote is a vote not cast.

I repeat.

The only wasted vote is a vote not cast. 

I’m not very vocal about politics. I feel like everyone else is yelling loud enough. However, I pay a lot of attention to politics and was thiiiiiiis close to entering a career in political marketing. It’s a dirty game. I couldn’t do it.

Again, this isn’t a political post. I’m not going to tell you who to vote for or who I voted for. This is to encourage you to VOTE. Go vote for whomever you think is most fit for the job. Research the other people on the ballot running for other positions, not just the top position. Those other folks have a lot of pull in what happens too. And you know what, if you want to write in Kermit the Frog, you still voted, and that is not a vote wasted.

This week Issa asked me why women weren’t allowed to vote before. I explained that we’ve only been allowed to vote here for 100 years. She exclaimed, “mom, that isn’t very long!” Then I had to tell her why, and it broke my heart.

Honestly, every time I share certain parts of our history, it breaks my heart a little, and we haven’t even gotten to the world wars yet.

Today I had to explain the sarcasm behind these stickers I made. This also broke my heart.

I had to tell my 7 year old that people who run for government office basically join a club. They pick their club because that club best aligns with how they think. We have two main clubs in our country. They’ve been around in this form for about 100 years. This is when she said, “as long as women have been allowed to vote” and I had a proud mom moment. Then I said, there’s other clubs too, Green Party, Libertarians and others. She asked if there was a red or a purple party.

I told her George Washington warned us about only having two parties, but still the two main parties are what most people vote for. The parties are so opposed to each other and can’t agree on most things that they mostly just fight amongst themselves. Then I had to tell her that many people will say, “a vote for a third party is a wasted vote.” Which saying that to a 7 year old made me feel like I was telling her about a bully at school.

We explained that who you vote for is up to you. It’s your choice. I have taken her with me every time we have voted. I told her I’ve done that because I want her to know that she always has a voice and people fought for us to have that voice and it’s important she uses it. I told her when she’s 18 she gets to vote for whomever she wants, and it’s totally OK if it’s not who Daddy and I vote for.

What I tried to convey to her is you can vote for whomever you want, and no one should ever make you feel bad about it. 

So go exercise your right to make a choice. That is where you can share your option and it actually gets heard. A lot of people fought for that right, men and women. Whatever choice you make, is a choice made, and that it is never a waste. Never.