Current mood:	anxious
Current music:	The Fratellis - Costello Music

And now a break from our regular programming: VOTE


If you live in the United States, tomorrow is Election Day. If you've been at all alive and awake in the last six months year, you've been bombarded by phrases like "historic election," "very close," "extremely important," and "once-in-a-lifetime," and you don't need me to repeat them. (Right?)

I do want you to vote for Barack Obama. (But I guess we can still be friends if you vote for John McCain.) And I want you to vote on the down-ticket races, too: in Washington state, the governor's race will probably be decided by two- or three-hundred votes. We also have congressmen (and women), state legislators, sheriffs and etc. to elect.

And I don't want to hear any bullshit excuses, either!

• "I don't have time." It takes ten minutes, people! You connect some arrows on a piece of paper, and you can even skip the ones you don't know! It's not a test, for God's sake.


• "My vote won't count." AAARRRRGGGHHHH. If everyone who said that voted, good God, do you realize what an overwhelming force you would be? Single votes do count - remember Florida in 2000? Washington state legislators regularly win by margins of less than 50 votes. Don't tell me your vote doesn't count. Because I will break your knees with a baseball bat.


• "I don't care." Ok...but I care. Will you vote on my behalf? I'll bake you brownies.


• "I'm not registered to vote." ...Fine. Go register now while you're thinking about it. Yes, now. Go!

I'm writing myself into a funk here, so it's time to get some cookies and calm down. But please do vote tomorrow, if you haven't already!



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And now a side note:

When you write a pro-voting piece, you're supposed to say, "I don't care who you vote for, just go do it." I don't say this anymore, because almost everyone who says this phrase is lying. We do care who you vote for - we want you to vote for our guy - and we're gambling that if we can get you to vote you might vote with us out of some sense of obligation* or just name recognition. Voting is not particularly exciting, so anyone who encourages it has a stake in the outcome. People who don't care about elections don't remind each other to vote, right? Encouraging people to vote is (nearly always) a sign of investment in the political process, and that investment is attached to candidates and issues, not the electoral process itself. Get it?

(Okay, there are probably some people who swoon with delight over ranked-choice voting and etc., but still. It's definitely not the usual approach to politics. )

*"Gee, turtle's been badgering me to vote for three weeks. I guess I'd better vote for her candidate." That's the hope. It could be, "Jesus, turtle won't shut up about this goddamn election. I'm voting against her candidate to spite her." But I hope not!