I didn't vote, and I'm not ashamed

The nation was in uproar last Tuesday.

The momentum of midterm elections had been building for a long time with flyers being handed out across campus, student rallies and campaign ads everywhere.

The effects of the pandemonium on everyday life weren’t detrimental, but they became more and more noticeable as it approached Election Day.

There was a knock on the door at 8 p.m. Nov. 1. Having a tight-knit relationship with my floor-mates, I told the visitor to come in.Mistake No. 1.

The door opened and a young guy with a charming but stressed expression stepped in.

“Are you guys registered to vote tomorrow?”

I said no and went back to watching television.

My roommate explained that she had registered.

Then, it happened — the cherry on top.

“Are you planning on voting Democrat tomorrow?” he asked quickly.

“Wh-uh, I don’t know,” she said.

“Well, I want you to take these pamphlets,” he said, barging across the room to where my roommate sat, shoving numerous blue pamphlets and jumbling some words.

As he left to find his next victim, he added, “Make sure you vote Democrat tomorrow. We need your vote.”

Pause.

There were so many things about that last statement that rubbed me the wrong way, and the way my roommate reacted to the man’s audacity, I could see she thought the same.

As I thought about that moment the next day while watching the election coverage, I did not feel an ounce of guilt for not voting.

While everyone else is well within their right to be true to the desires of their respective party, it isn’t right to encourage an irresponsible vote just to help your side win.

For one thing, I’ve known the ins and outs of Bloomington for only four months. I know nothing about the way this city works and the candidates that want to run it. ... and even if I did, I am 18 years old.

I don’t feel like I have the gall to vote on the referendums and leaders of this city when I know I have an absolute naive sense about the real world. I don’t own a home and won’t anytime soon.

I don’t understand taxes. I can sit around and hear opinions from the left and right, but I have yet to jump out of my seat and feel passion for a candidate.

Every vote counts, which is precisely why I didn’t cast mine.

Making such an important assertion about the state of Bloomington and the nation alike when I know that I am not educated about the matters at hand is one of the most irresponsible things that someone can do.

While my views and decisions lean left most times, I would never walk into a voting booth and select the entire Democratic ticket just to wear a button that says “I voted today!”

I feel far more proud that I decided I was too inept to vote than people who thought they were being a citizen by simply selecting a party’s entire ticket without having known the issues and how these candidates would handle them.

I am learning where I fall with the parties, and I don’t think I will ever be the type of person to rally for one side. I don’t think Democrats are always “the good guys” and Republicans are detrimental to the working class.

I don’t think Republicans are smarter and Democrats are mindless.

The petty war between the elephants and donkeys has me absolutely uninterested.

As I’m growing and approaching the mature old age of 19, I’m seeing that I am far more concerned with the issues than the politics of them. I’m sure that makes me sound liberal, another young rolling stone, but that’s how I operate, and label me as you wish.

When I do vote in 2012, I plan to be in my hometown and have competent knowledge of every candidate that wants to represent me. Then, and only then, would I feel right casting my vote.

If I had simply gone in and cast a vote this year, I would have been guessing my way through a multiple choice exam that I didn’t study for, and I would have been far more guilty about that than I do about the decision to skip the process all together.


E-mail: aysymatz@indiana.edu