Worried?

Do something.

New Year’s Resolution: Do Something…but what?

Are you more than a little bit worried about the state of the world? Find yourself avoiding the news? War, hate, climate change, and the jackboots of Trump marching ever closer. It’s enough to make you want to pull the covers over your head.

Me, too. What I’d really like is a nice slow boat to Outer Mongolia, returning sometime in 2028 or so…

But that would be a sure trip to disaster. There’s a classic quote that’s truer than ever today: The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for all good men [and women] to do nothing.

Do nothing. It’s so tempting, so easy to sit back and look away and just let it happen. But how will that feel when the day after Election Day rolls around?

Are you looking to do something, something, anything, to improve the state of the world a tiny bit--but don’t know what to do?

It seems to me that the answer to many…most…dare I say all?….of the world’s problems is the power of the vote. Getting out the vote is going to be critical in this election year. Not just for President and Congress, but state legislatures and election officials, right on down to town councils and school boards. The stakes have never been higher.

Yet so many people don’t vote. The statistics make you weep. In 2022 only 27% of voters under 30 cast a ballot. In 2020, the year with highest voter turnout ever, still only 2/3 of eligible voters of all ages went to the polls. In most elections, only a tiny percentage of voters show up to decide their own futures and the fate of the nation.

And I think that the burning question of our time is why don’t people vote?

There are, of course, a huge number of reasons, but I think that a huge but overlooked problem is that voting is hard. It’s a process that’s complicated, confusing, and time-consuming. How to register? Where’s my polling place now that I’ve moved? Do I need ID? What time do the polls close? And, oh no, I forgot to get an absentee ballot, can I get one two days before the election?

Early voting is a great thing, but so few people know where the early voting sites are. And have you looked at a voter registration form lately? The fine print is long enough and complicated enough to make you want to run in the opposite direction.

Die-hard voters, the bases on both sides, have this all figured out. But many people only turn out for the big ones--the presidential years. And oh boy, is this year a big one. Given how divided we are as a nation, it’s these intermittent voters who will determine the outcome.

So how can we fix this, right now? I think that one of the most useful things we can do is to disseminate voting information. Post on social media. Tell your friends. Bug your kids. Help a senior navigate the absentee process. Teach a college student how to register. Post on social media again, and again, and again.

Here’s a place to start: voting absentee. The process of getting an absentee ballot in most states is maddeningly elusive, complex, and ever-changing. And it has to be started, not days, but weeks before the elections.

You might think that January is a long way from November, and who needs to think about voting already? But there are those sneaky little special elections that pop up, that most people don’t even notice. Case in point, the very important special election on February 13 to choose a replacement for the late unlamented Congressman George Santos.

Some version of absentee or mail-in voting is available in every state. But the rules in each state are different—some require ballots to be received by election day, others say they have to be postmarked by election day. Learn about your state’s rules here.

And the rules change year to year! One constant is that the process has to be started at minimum two weeks before the election.

Here is the League of Women Voters info on Absentee Ballots. Their website Vote411.org has a lot of great information. 

Who do you know who needs to know this? Is there a way you can spread the word?

If this seems even a little bit helpful to you, I would be so grateful if you would share it. Thank you!