If you haven’t already voted, next Tuesday is your one chance to have a say in our future.
This year, more than ever, your vote counts. Please, please take the time to cast a ballot this year.
Elections and politicking are always more civilized here in Vermont than they are in other parts of the country. With the exception of the tail end of the races for governor and lieutenant governor, our statewide elections have been civil and respectful.
The tail end of those campaigns notwithstanding, Vermonters have two solid choices for governor with two very different visions for the state. The two candidates running for lieutenant governor likewise have two clearly different visions for the state.
Locally, we are lucky to have four candidates who care enough to run for state representative. Their campaigns have been civil and respectful. They don’t need to denigrate each other in seeking voters and they haven’t.
Nationally, we’re not so lucky. This is the worst presidential campaign that most of us can recall. The stakes are very high. Your one chance to affect the outcome is Tuesday, November 8.
The Nation just published an article about voter turnout last Saturday in Iceland. Voter turnout was 79.2 percent.
Think about that. Voter turnout the year that Bush defeated Gore was 51.3 percent – and Gore received 540,000 more votes than Bush. Bush won the Electoral College vote 271-266 after Florida spent an embarrassing week trying to properly count the votes and sent the election to the U.S. Supreme Court for adjudication.
Voter turnout in 2004 was 55.3 percent. In 2008, the year that Obama was first elected, turnout was 56.8. He was re-elected in 2012 when 53.6 percent of voters cast ballots.
We can do better than this.
