I vote because I cannot turn my back on fellow progressive voters and volunteers.

[Veganhealedme]

I'd be doing a disservice to those who volunteer and work to help elect Democrats. I respect their hard work and sense of volunteerism too much to turn my back on them by not turning out to vote.

Nor can I turn my back on fellow progressive voters by not voting. I simply respect the fact that you will take the time to vote, I feel I must do the same.

I cannot turn my back on those who march, those who protest, those who volunteer for a Dem candidate, door knock for them etc. I cannot turn my back on fellow progressives that work to help elect Dems or the voters that vote for Dem candidates.

I cannot turn my back on fellow progressives by not voting. It goes against my pro-union, pro-organize, pro-strength in numbers way of thinking.

I vote because it is my middle finger to the entire Republican Party. To Fux. To Oxyrush. To the Koch Bros. To Citizens United..

I vote to quell the nausea induced by political ads on TV.

[Chathamization]

1. I'll have to say...it's annoying spending hours on the weekend knocking on doors and working to get

more progressive Democratic candidates...and then see a great progressive candidate you were supporting lose a primary where only 17% of the registered Democratic voters bothered voting (and there are plenty of Democrats that aren't registered Democrats as well)...realizing they could have won with just a few thousand more votes...and then seeing people going around telling others that primaries don't matter, candidates are chosen by the party elites and not the voters, voting won't make the party more progressive, there aren't any progressive choices, etc.

[Veganhealedme]

3. Turnout is sadly far too low in primaries..

I always vote in primaries. There as important as the general.

I salute fellow prog's that volunteer. Much respect.

[Chathamization]

4. Thanks for this thread Veganhealedme. I've been fortunate enough to get connected with some super

activists in my area - ones who don't just work hard on local races, but who will travel to neighboring states and spend weekends campaigning for good candidates there (and for those who think voting doesn't matter, there was a great progressive candidate they were supporting nearby that lost by 56 votes). I've only done a tiny fraction of the work they have. But like you said, when you see people working that hard to make a difference, you feel like you have an obligation to at least do something (and at least not go around telling people that none of it matters).

It would be great if there was more of a push here for people to pay attention to the primaries. If you do a search on threads here for primaries, it's pretty sad. A post complaining about the lack of progressive candidates will get 200+ votes, a post encouraging people to vote for progressive candidates in the primary will get something like 10 if you're lucky (Eric Cantor's primary loss got much, much more attention then progressive primary candidates). It might help if more people spent time in the forum for their state, since that seems to be a good area to spread information about local politics.

[Veganhealedme]

5. Great points..

56 votes. Some of these elections come down to just a handful of votes between winner and loser.

Turnout couldn't be more important for both primary and general. even a 1-2% increase in turnout can greatly change election outcomes.

Dems need an aggressive national GOTV campaign that asks voters on TV ads,
"WHY DON'T YOU VOTE?"

It's time for Dems to get blunt with the party's GOTV message. Challenge everyone of voting age to register and turnout.

The stories of campaign volunteers needs to be told far more here on DU. Volunteerism can be infectious when people read or hear about the hard work of those who volunteer. It's part of what inspired me to start volunteering, was from seeing others volunteer before me.

People like you!





Here's to hoping for a great outcome today/tonight!

[freshwest]

2. K&R to you, Veganhealedme.