Register to Vote! For God's sake!

Today, I had the mind numbing experience of pumping gas. As all Tuesdays, I decided to do something to make my day go by more interestingly. I decided this morning that I was going to ask every customer today if they were registered to vote. I did this for two reasons. One, I was curious to see how many people were registered to vote in this highly charged election season. Two, I wanted to inform those who were not, that today was the last day to register in NJ.

The rules to my survey:
1. Ask if they are registered to vote. Don't press it. If they didn't want to tell me, that is fine.
2. I did not once ask somebody if they were planning to vote for a particular candidate.
3. If they asked me who I was supporting, I answered them honestly that I was supporting Barack Obama.
In some situations, this brought about a 2-3 minute conversation while the gas was pumping as to why I was supporting Obama. Some agreed, some disagreed but I only went there if they asked me. I was not trying to change any one's mind. I was just curious if they were paying attention to this election and if they were registered to vote.

In my unofficial survey, about 90% of the people that responded said that YES they were registered to vote already. For statistical purposes, I am going to assume that for whatever their reason, 10% lied. So let's say that realistically, 75%-80% of the people I asked were actually registered to vote. I was encouraged by people's interest in what I consider the most important part of being a citizen of the United States.

The 10% is what I would like to talk about. Most of the 10% were either ineligible to vote because of citizenship status or let's say "past legal trouble". But there were a few responses that peaked my interest. Two specific people told me "No" but they were planning to that day. And when I encouraged that concept, they volunteered that they were Republicans. Again, my interest was aroused! So when, confronted with I felt obliged to ask "What about the Republican party speaks to you?" Let me preface, I am a registered Independent. I believe firmly in voting for a person not a party.

The first response from the self-proclaimed Republican was from somebody who after our brief conversation, I give a lot of respect. I asked him why he considered himself a Republican and what about the party he agrees with. He had substantive answers to back up his views which mainly consisted of the fact that he likes the idea of small and fiscally responsible government. I was heartened to hear that although he proclaimed himself to be a Republican with real Republican values, he was planning to vote for Barack Obama. I wasn't just happy to hear that he was voting for the person I was supporting, what made me happier was that he decided to form his own opinion and not follow a party line.

The second of the self-proclaimed Republicans to respond made me fear for the future of our world. This person who volunteered that he is a Republican, answered my question of why with "Because my parents are Republicans." At that point, I contemplated suicide or a relocation to Canada. But who am I to tell him what he should think. People vote for various reasons and that is the beauty of our system. For myself, I would prefer to have an informed and engaged voting public.

More than one person said to me, "I am not gonna bother because Barack Obama already won this state." This seriously disturbed me. The concept that this brought to mind was "American Idol". Nobody cares about anything else but who is going to win. NJ is a very Democratic state. And the chances of John McCain getting an upset in this state are about as good as me winning Miss America. But what bothered me about this statement is that not that he had conceded an Obama win in this state, but that he never once thought there are other people to vote for in this election. The House of Representatives is up for re-election. There are many national, state and local officials that need to be elected. There are multiple ballot questions this year. Even if this person had decided to leave the presidential ballot blank but had chosen to answer one ballot question, his vote would have made a difference.

The Presidential Election is very exciting. Its historic. And honestly it's probably one of the most important elections in determining the future of our country in many, many years. But please, people, remember elections are about how we want our government run at ALL levels. The President is an important part of that, perhaps the most important in the direction our country goes but make no mistake, your mayor, your state legislators, your national congressmen and senators ALL influence our lives. Don't forget we need to hold these people accountable too.