Why You Should Vote
What can I affect by voting?
You can affect the world we live in, and that's pretty broad. I think that people don't realize that there are more than presidential candidates at stake. Right now, we're in the midst of a presidential election, pretty soon you won't be able to turn on any media without having commercials. People know when there's a big federal election going on, here in California we hear it state and local as well. I think these candidates that represent us are making very important decisions. Whether you get healthcare or not, how much taxes you pay, what do you pay for gasoline taxes, whether marijuana's legal, where you can smoke, all kinds of things, whether homosexual teachers are allowed to teach has been on the ballot, where public housing should be located, development issues, should a different project should be allowed, or should you build new police stations, schools, libraries, all those things have been on the ballot.
Who votes and who doesn't?
This is a real sad thing. Voting turnout in the United States is not very high. Of course, there are some elections in some areas where it's incredibly high, but generally, it's not that high compared to other areas of the world. We do not have mandatory voting as some states do. We don't put the fear into our citizens if they don't vote that something bad is going to happen to them. That's in some areas. So, it's really up to you whether you want to vote or not. But, the turnout has been--the presidential turnouts, of course, are higher than any other election, but they're just a little over fifty percent of the eligible voters in the United States, which to me is very sad, and, of course, who votes? The better educated, the older the person is, the more chance that person will go to vote, and, of course, the different ethnic groups vote in different percentages; some vote very high, some have very low turnout. I don't claim to know why. And the very sad thing about it is the people that the laws effect the most--the young people who are going to be around for a long time--they are going to have to live in this world. The eighteen to twenty-one year olds vote thirty percent generally; one-third of them come out to vote, which is something we should continue to ask ourselves, "why"?
Why don't more people vote?
There are a variety of reasons. When the researchers ask people why they don't vote, it comes down to basically, "I don't have enough time, its not easy to vote." It's pretty easy to vote. I don't know if they're legitimate excuses, or just lazy and I don't care. A lot of people don't vote, because they say they're disillusioned with the political process, you have the right to be disillusioned, but you shouldn't be disillusioned to the point that you don't care enough to try change it.
Is voting a right or a responsibility?
It is a right and a responsibility. However, I am of the opinion that it is your right not to vote as well as it is your right to vote. You are giving the power and letting other people make your decision. If you do that with your eyes open and you make that decision it is your right. I am not in favor of like mandatory voting like they have in Australian stuff. Because I do not want people who do not care to make my decisions. So I feel strongly that it is a right and women for example fought very hard for the right to vote and we should use it too.
What are the most important things to vote for or against?
They're all important to somebody. What's important to me, may not be important to you. Lots of people only vote for candidates and they don't ever vote on the ballot measures. Some people only vote on the ballot measures and don't vote for candidates. It's what you care about, and it's very important to know that your ballot counts no matter what you vote for. You can vote for one thing out of fifty, or all fifty. Your ballot will count no matter how many issues and races you vote for.
Why vote if the candidate with the most money is going to win anyway?
I am always impressed. I'm one of these political junkies that read the newspaper and I read all the articles and stuff, but I am always impressed on how smart voters are. When I get up on election morning and X, Y and Z passed but JKL did not pass, I say “Oh my god, the voters are really smart.” I'm always impressed that somehow voters get through the money issues. Just because a candidate has more money than another and has more commercials does not mean that candidate will win. I could give you lots of examples of people that had low-funded campaigns that actually won the election. So thank god people look seriously at candidates not just on how frequent their commercials or their mailers are. I sometimes think the more mailers people send me, the less I will vote for him because I get frustrated on how much money is being spent on stupid flyers when that money could be going for better uses. So that's a personally thing. But, you know, we need to be informed, so there's nothing wrong on trying to inform the voters on what you believe in. If those flyers really tell you something, “I believe in these and that and I'll vote for this,” sometimes they don't. This is why you vote for me, “because I'm a good family man and I have beautiful children.”
