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Regardless of what political party that you affiliate with or what you believe in, elections are about voting for who we want and not who we don’t want.
Context: I prefer to vote for a candidate because I support them as a person and support their ideas and feel that they are qualified to fill an office. I don’t believe in the concept of choosing the “lesser evil” in an election whether it be a local, state, or presidential election.
Example: Absolutely hating a candidate and voting for their opponent just because they are not the other person would be considered “protest voting.” If I were running for public office, I would want people to vote for me because they think that I’m a well-rounded, qualified, candidate with good ideas and not just because they think that I’m “better than the other.” If you’re voting for someone that you’re indifferent toward instead of voting for someone you can’t stand, then you’re not really voting for their opponent as much as you’re voting against them.
I’ve voted in every single election ever since I was old enough to vote. I can honestly say that I’ve never left any race blank and have always voted for everything on the ballot I could vote for. I believe that every vote counts and every race matters. I have always voted for candidates because I believed that they were the best for the office and never because I disliked their opponent. I have also always voted on local measures and propositions. There have been times where I felt that there were pros and cons to voting yes but also pros and cons to voting no. I have voted yes on propositions and local measures with some hesitations but also reservations on voting no.
No candidate, proposition, or local measure is always 100% perfect but someone will always win and a proposition will always be passed or not passed even if you refrain from voting. It can sometimes feel like taking a multiple choice test and not knowing what to answer. Never let yourself be discouraged by who or what to vote for. If you are taking a multiple choice test, you should never leave an answer blank. It’s better to try to answer and fail than leave the answer blank and not try at all.
Remember, elections will always have results even if you don’t vote. I encourage everyone to vote this election season and participate in all local, state, and national races!
Yours truly,
Leila Sadeghian