Donald Trump. Hillary Clinton. Gary Johnson. Jill Stein.
Come November of this year, these will be the four big names on the ballot. For many voters, especially first-time voters, this might look like a rather grim choice. But whether you were rooting for Bernie Sanders or Marco Rubio or the infamous Deez Nuts, these are the choices with which months of primary elections have left the United States. A write-in campaign for any of these candidates honestly just would not work; the only thing it would accomplish is splitting either the Democratic or Republican voters.
This is going to be a frustrating election, particularly for all of those fresh eighteen to twenty-one-year-old voters who were looking forward to having their voices legally matter for the first time. However, it is still their responsibility to take part in this frustrating election. Not liking either of the major candidates does not give you a Get Out of Voting Free card. All of the electorate will be dealing with, and likely complaining about, the results of this November’s election for the next four years.
You have an innate responsibility to get out and vote, because your vote does matter to a degree.
Now you could argue that this isn’t true, that the presence of the Electoral College and the gerrymandering of states eliminates the influence of your vote. But that is only partially true – because you are not the only person thinking the way you do. Many voters are displeased with the options they are being given.
According to RealClearPolitics, Donald Trump has a 62.0 Unfavorable rating; Hillary Clinton, 53.2 Unfavorable. A majority of the electorate is in the same position that you are. A comparatively small amount of people are avid supporters of the Democratic and Republican nominees. The Huffington Post published an article of the seven reasons citizens need to vote this year, and two of those reasons are very important in relation to this article.
You are not just voting for a president. You are voting for the Supreme Court justices, the judges, the White House staff, and many others that the United States President appoints. You have to look beyond the person sitting in office to the values of the sorts of people that they would bring into the government and bureaucracy.
Also, your vote influences the margin of that candidate’s victory. While in some states that are always red or always blue come election time that might seem insignificant, it is not. The margin of victory influences the “mandate” of the elected official. The smaller the margin, the more likely that candidate is to enact more moderate policies to fight for reelection. In swing states, the benefit of effecting the margin of victory is much more obvious.
To be frank, you do not have the choice to sit out of this election. The 2016 presidential election will definitely be one that the history books document. In what other election did the United States have a candidate the internet accused of being the Zodiac Killer, a candidate who seemingly received the endorsement of Mother Nature at a rally, a candidate under investigation by the FBI, and Donald Trump all at once?
It is your civic duty to vote this November. For information on registering to vote, please consult the links below.
