annual voting reminder
Yes, I say this every year (sometimes more than once), but it’s important every year.
Your local municipality is having an election today. You should be registered (if you aren’t, why not?). Go out to your polling place and vote. Unless you’re here in Virginia or in New Jersey, it’s probably for local offices. Notice I didn’t say “just for local offices”, because it’s the local ones that probably affect you most directly, like in the sense that these are the people who set your property tax rates, fund your fire departments and emergency services, or take care of your pet if it gets lost (if you go by the stereotypical “dogcatcher” example and they actually elect that person in your municipality). It’s important.
Me, I get to be one of those fun bellwether elections this time, since we’re one of the two states (along with the aforementioned NJ) who elect a governor the year after the presidential election, and very important pundits assign lots of value on our results as a referendum on how the President’s party looks a year into the term. It’s pretty close here, all told, but I suspect that Ralph Northam and the rest of the Democratic ticket will do well here, because Northern Virgina and the interstate corridors, which are reliably blue, will overwhelm the rest of the state. Also, if Charlottesville’s unpleasantness is any indication, there’s a lot more anti-racism folks than there are white nationalists (though I don’t have to look to hard to find them around here).
Anyway, go vote – as I am also fond of saying, it’s the absolutely least you can to fulfill your responsibilities as a citizen.
