Earlier this year was the spring primary election for Wisconsin. I cast my vote for candidates for the state supreme court, numerous county and municipal judges, a county supervisor, school board members, a village trustee, and a nominee for President of the United States.
And now we are mere days away from the 2020 presidential election….in a global pandemic.
Sure, it would be easier to just stay home or mess around with an absentee ballot. Plus, it isn’t exactly easy to walk into the polling place with a two-and-a-half-year-old and a 7-month old (even without having to worry about masks and distancing), and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think it would be easier to sit this one out. But I won’t.
I’m getting my butt to the polls (or making sure my ballot arrives safely and early) and so should you.
I won’t tell you who to vote for. I won’t even tell you who I’M voting for, but I will tell you TO vote. It’s that simple. I don’t care if you vote for a candidate who I can’t stand and I don’t care if your vote basically cancels mine out.
I care that your voice is heard and your ballot is counted.
Voting, to me, is not just my responsibility as an American citizen. It is my responsibility as a woman, a member of my community, and a mother.
You heard me correctly. Voting is my responsibility as a mother.
Not only am I providing an important example of civic duty to my children, but by voting on these candidates, I am choosing a vision for my children’s future. How these candidates think and what they intend to do with their office matters.
Every election can affect my children’s lives. It can affect the economy and our ability to provide for them. It can affect the environment and how clean their drinking water is in twenty years. It can affect their schools, the types of healthcare available to them, and the safety of our country. It can decide whether my daughter is paid as well as her male counterparts, and whether or not my children will receive leave when their children are born. It can decide if my children will be left with an insurmountable national debt or if social security will still exist when they are ready to retire. There is not a portion of my children’s lives that doesn’t have the ability to be affected by this election.
So I vote.
I vote because I believe I have the ability to shape their lives with my vote and there is nothing I wouldn’t do to provide my children with the best future possible. I vote because unlike my great grandmother, I am able to. I vote because my vote matters, and I hope you vote too.
See you at the polls.
To find your polling place or see the candidates who will appear on your ballot, please visit: https://myvote.wi.gov.
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