Friday, October 24, 2008

The Right To Vote!

I have never wanted to vote for president. That is until a few weeks ago. Through out the primaries I was rooting for Ron Paul (see previous post) but didn't actually vote for him considering I had no plan to ever vote again, I knew I would be moving to another state, and didn't want to hassle of being called to jury duty. But I changed my mind one day. Here in Michigan there are two new proposals up this election. One for the legalization of medical marijuana the other for embryonic stem cell research. Two things I feel strongly about. So I decided I would register, have my say about the proposals, and write in Ron Paul (just to stick it to the man a little). Well I went down to the library and turned in my form there only to receive a letter from the county clerk a few days later saying I was not registered due to the fact that the organization, who was responsible for sending in the forms, had not sent them in on time. I was enraged. Here I was a 20  year old woman who finally has the mind and ability to vote and I can't. I called the library, was regretfully nasty to a nice woman, and eventually spoke to my new friend Michael. He apologized profusely and said he was investigating the problem and would let me know the results. To make a very long story short I was told to call Hailey (who turned out to be a very young and unprofessional person) at the Obama Campaign who basically gave me no confidence at all. So I called the County Clerk directly and a woman in the elections office told me all I had to do was bring my license to the polls on election day and fill out a provisional ballot! I was shocked it was so easy (I'm still a little nervous). The whole thing really taught me a lesson: I don't really believe that God wants me to vote and I think that it really doesn't matter all that much how many people vote but I do know that it was devastating, even to a person who never wanted to vote, that my freedom and privilege could be denied me. The moral of the story: Go out and vote for your local government (mayor, congress people, senators, etc), research the proposals for new legislation in your state, and vote for someone like Ralph Nader (or Ron Paul) because God knows someone like Obama sure as hell doesn't need your vote. 

2 comments:

howie said...

Wow, I can't believe your blog! I voted for Ralph Nader! I considered him the only man with principles. Glad you mentioned it. I wouldn't look at TV Tuesday. Didn't want to see the papers Wednesday morn. Wanted to put off finding out "O" had won. Love ya.

Sarah said...

I still feel so bad this happened to you! I think I'm going to sit on my right to vote until a woman makes a legit run for office. I'd like to see a woman in the oval office and her husband decorating the white house at Christmas, for once.