If you're like me you're getting a little sick of all the political posts, commercials etc. and I am a political science major! But this does affect all of us and is important so please keep reading. Many people I've talked to think their vote doesn't matter because of the electoral college and so they're not going to vote. YOUR VOTE DOES MATTER.
To briefly explain, each state has as many electoral votes as the combined number of Senators and Representatives. These electoral votes are given to the party that gets the most votes in each state. In all states but Maine and Nebraska it is a winner take all process - so even if your party got one more vote in your state, your party would get ALL the electoral votes. In 2008 62% of eligible voters voted, that leaves 38% (more than 1 out of 3 Americans) that didn't have their voices heard. A presidential candidate needs 270 electoral votes out of the 538 to win. If neither side gets 270 votes the results are determined by the popular vote (determined by the House).
So lets make this 2012 turnout the biggest yet. If we all go vote and encourage our friends to vote, each state's results could dramatically change. States like New York and California could actually turn red (meaning voting majority Republican). And if we take time to also study about and vote for conservative state Representatives and Senators we'll be better represented at the state level.
Of course 100% of eligible voters won't vote this election because many of them don't want to, are apathic, or haven't registered yet (Hopefully they'll go register to be prepared for next time). We always have a choice - if we want to be apathetic and not vote then we really shouldn't complain when we don't like a new law, get taxed too much, are charged too high of a price at the gas pump, or our living prices keep going up. If you made it this far, thanks for reading!
Elijah Verhagen
http://elections.gmu.edu/Turnout_2008G.html
http://uselectionatlas.org/INFORMATION/INFORMATION/electcollege_current.php
