To Do

Updated Februrary 27, 2011

When I first learned about write-ins in a civics class in high school, my first reaction was to wonder why we consistently got down to two people to pick from for President. Why do we all frame an election in this sense that we have two people to pick from? We don’t have two people to pick from – we have millions to pick from.

The year I turned 18 was the year of a Presidential election. I was so excited to be able to vote for the first time. I carefully watched the debates, read the news, and kept up with all the candidates and what they stood for. I was heart-broken when my favorite candidate lost the primary. I didn’t like the candidate who was chosen instead. I didn’t like the other party’s candidate, either. I was in a quandry for months. Then I remembered the write-in vote. I wrote in the name of the candidate I had really wanted. You might think that I wasted my vote, but I voted honestly for the person I felt was best qualified for the job rather than one of the two candidates somebody else told me I could pick from. If we all stopped paying attention to political parties and started paying attention to individuals, we could bring about some serious change in this country. No vote, especially one made with thought and attention, is ever wasted in a democracy.