by Jeff Stepper

Created on: March 07, 2007   Last Updated: March 19, 2008

Does your vote count? Good question. At the present time, one vote is not really going to swing a national election one way or the other because we have electoral colleges. We need to go to a one person - one vote type of system and get rid of the electoral colleges altogether. Now, with that said, here is something that I learned a couple of years ago.

In 2005, a couple of friends and I rode our bicycles from Everett, in Washington State to Washington DC. We were put up by hosts for most of the trip. The hosts would let us stay at their houses to eat, shower, etc. There were also quite a few rally's that were put on for us along the way. The comment that I heard the most was: If I thought that it would matter, I would vote for who I wanted, instead, I feel like I am forced to vote for the lesser of two evils. I heard this from literally hundreds of people across the country, and we only crossed a very thin slice of it. It is very possible that millions of Americans feel this way. If everyone would vote for who they wanted to be elected instead of feeling like the only choice they have is to vote for either a Democrat or a Republican, we might actually get a third party into office. And even if we didn't, there would be such a show of support for someone other than a D or a R that they would have to take notice. So, vote and vote with your heart and your values and we might be able to change this country around.

One thing I do know, however, is that if you don't vote, then your vote will most definitely not count, and you are allowing others to control your future.

Email your congress people and tell them we need election and campaign reform, if they get enough emails they just might listen. (Btw, you have to be registered to vote and you can only email your own congresspersons. If you aren't registered, your email will be tossed without anyone reading it).

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