That's right. I will probably not be voting in this year's election.
*gasp* *eye roll* *sigh of disappointment* Yeah, I know.
I think we can all agree that this year's presidential election has been one of the most interesting elections we've had in a while. After the primary election results, Clinton is the presumptive Democratic nominee, while Trump is the presumptive Republican nominee.
The reason I will not be voting this year is quite simple. I do not know enough about each candidate to vote on which I want to help run this country. That's it. I'm not abstaining to prove a point, I'm not not voting because I'm lazy, I am just simply too uneducated to decide.
In 2014, about 36 percent of Americans voted in the midterm elections. That is a ridiculously low number compared to past elections and especially when compared to other countries. It's awful that more people don't participate in voting, but what is even worse is throwing away a vote. Thousands of Americans vote and express their opinions based on what they've seen in the media or what they've heard from a neighbor. Very few voters actually do their homework and see in between the propaganda lines to vote on someone they truly agree with.
Do you remember a few months back when Trump supposedly referred to 9/11 as 7/11? The media went crazy and everybody was judging him for the mistake. It just so happens, that speech was one I actually took the time to listen to and when everyone started freaking out about the 9/11-7/11 mix up, I finally understood why our country has such low voting. Nobody really understands what is going on.
If you actually watched the speech or if you did an easy Google search, you'd realize that Trump was not referring to 9/11 as 7/11. He was actually referring to a fire station in New York with the address of 711. The media skewed this, turned people against him and did exactly what it has done to many of our potential candidates.
An issue that has been brought up lately dealing with Clinton has been the issue of her deleting emails when she was the Secretary of State back from 2009-2013. Has she been indicted for it? Will she be? Is it really that big of a deal? What were those emails anyway? Regardless, this is another issue that the media has blown up and has had conflicting headlines about, which people have taken to believe or debate over.
It is so easy for us to believe what we hear and make our decisions based on false presentations. Every vote counts, and I refuse to weigh in on something when I don't know what I need to know. I'm not saying I'll never vote, but as of right now, I don't know enough to make that decision. In the next few months, maybe I'll get my act together and do the research. If that time comes, then I will be exercising my right in an effective, proper way as all Americans should.
*sigh of understanding*
