Why you shouldn't vote!

Every election cycle there are hundreds of articles, blogs and commercials all stressing the importance of voting. The message is often the same: you have the right to vote, don’t waste it. In the push to get more voters to polls they neglect the most important aspect of voting-getting informed on the issues.

It isn’t enough to just show up and vote, you’ve got to do your homework. I know, how dare you be expected to research a candidate’s political decisions, or read the FULL text of a proposition.

A recent Field poll (source) showed that although 47 percent of likely voters said they intended to vote yes, less than a fifth of likely voters have even heard of it. According to the poll, “Awareness of the initiative among likely voters is low. Just 18 percent report having seen or heard anything about the initiative prior to participating in the survey.”

Let’s get something straight voting is a right but more importantly it is a duty. Every year politicians make decisions that can affect our lives for years to come. And with California’s latest trend of using bonds to pay for every new construction plan, the proposition you vote yes on may cost the state money for the next 30 years.

Poll after poll show that voter awareness of the issues is usually limited. If the extent of your political knowledge comes from the political commercials that spin, and twist the issue with misinformation and even outright lies to influence your votes. Or if you are willing to vote a certain way because of people holding signs on Alessandro then do us all a favor and stay home.

It’d be great to see voter turnout in the high 90 percentile but the political process is better served by informed voters. So open up that voter guide and actually read the text of the amendments. Use your Internet to research the issues rather than looking at poor or playing mobster. It only takes few hours or your time to get informed and once you have, go vote and make your informed voice heard.