I voted in 2016. I voted this year, too. I plan to vote in every election from here forward. But I used to not vote, deliberately, despite many people trying to convince me that I should. The story of their failed pro-voting arguments, and the one successful argument that I came to on my own, says a lot about how we push voting in all the wrong ways, and how we should change.
Why I Didn’t Vote Before
The main reason I didn’t vote was because I didn’t want to be like the people I perceived as “political.” People who talked about politics seemed to always be angry, argumentative, and so defined by their beliefs that they weren’t capable of objectivity. By not voting, I thought I was keeping myself from a slippery slope toward clouded judgement and self-righteousness. I took pride in my position as a calm, centered person who couldn’t be accused of being brainwashed by one party or the other.
The other reason I didn’t vote was math, and this is a tough one. The reality is (hear me out) that it’s highly unlikely that my vote will ever make a difference in the outcome of any election — we’re talking Powerball-level odds. If you’re pro-voting, I know that this statement makes you bristle with counter arguments (believe me, I’ve heard them all, and I’ll address some below) but this is…
