#VoterRegistrationDay

If I was to shut down this blog tomorrow my hope is that you takeaway:

My love for Judge Judy. She’s been on the air for 21 years. She’s 74. That means in ten years I can be a curmudgeon just like her.
Coffee is my drug of choice. Followed by wine (or whiskey. Or vodka. Or beer. You get the picture).
Depression affects us all. Get help.
I’m petty.
I love my kids, cats, and husband (probably in that order).
My sister and I are twins and we don’t look alike (at least to me).
I haunt piano bars.
I mangle Spanish and now French.
I want to quit smoking so I can be a runner, but I like smoking. A lot.
I am passionate about you exercising your right to vote.

I could site statistics and all the reasons why it’s so important to vote, but I won’t. Face it, your eyes glaze over if it’s not packaged in a nifty infographic or a snazzy YouTube video. It’s okay, I used to do the same thing until I ran for public office.

Running for office is a time I don’t like to bring up. It was fun until it was not. It was a pleasure to serve my constituents, and I remain honored to be chosen to replace an outgoing council member. I campaigned hard, sometimes knocking on doors in 100 degree weather. For a change, the mouth that had me in more than one manager’s office for comments better kept to myself was now being used as the voice of the people. I was honored every other Wednesday sitting on council and making sure that I voted the best for my neighborhood.

One thing that crept up as I knocked on doors was my registration. Despite the fact that I provided book bags, free books, a community event, and my time the R next to my name made people pause. They knew what I had done, all the things I planned to do, and yet the Republican registration was their problem.

Fast forward election night. I knocked on almost 10000 doors. I was down ten pounds from door to door, and I was confident that the people would speak.

Speak they did. After all the votes were counted I lost by six votes.

SIX

DAMN

VOTES

Adding insult to injury, people continued to call me months after the new councilperson was sworn in. Those that didn’t call would say “I didn’t think my vote mattered.”

Well it did.

Which is a long way of saying that every votes does matter. Most people recall Bush losing the popular vote but winning the electoral college. The same thing could happen in this election. Who are these people that can decide after our votes are tallied?

These are the people you don’t vote for in those boring, quiet local elections. These are the people who know your name, know your children, know your neighborhood. These are your state representatives, state senators, US senators, judges, mayors, and yes councilperson.

Stop everything you are doing RIGHT NOW and get registered to vote.

Visit vote.gov, select your state, and follow the instructions.

Please register to vote. If not for anything else, think about those six votes.