With one week until the national election, the statement, “Do your part as an American citizen and vote,” is being circulated by both celebrities and average Americans alike. Through interviews, news reports and social media, the political propaganda from both parties is being distributed with the ideas that you have a duty to yourself and your country to vote in this upcoming election. The level of marketing for this idea is so immense that people who choose not to vote may start feeling persecuted for not seizing a right that so many people, across different countries and time periods, aren’t afforded.
However, in this lust for votes, voting supporters may overlook a couple of reasons why it is OK not to submit to an election one doesn’t support: problematic candidates and an out-dated Electoral College.
The first reason why it is OK to be abstinent from voting is the simplest reason, neither of the candidates look appealing and both exhibit trademarks that go against a moral belief. Face it, there is never going to be an election where every person believes and supports the ideologies of one of the candidates. Heck, there will never be an election where there isn’t a minority of people who despise both candidates vying for the presidency.
Four years ago, the election between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump was widely billed as the battle of the “lesser of two evils” because each candidate faced controversy, ranging from Clinton’s lying habits to Trump’s sexism and racism. However, unlike popular belief, this year is no different.
Without going into political issues, as everyone interprets issues differently, this year is already controversial and another “lesser of two evils” election to some people. Neither Trump nor Biden is a perfectly moral choice, as both have made racist remarks throughout their respective careers. Both Trump and Biden are also in their mid-to-late seventies and have given doubts to whether they are senile or could survive a four-year term. For this reason, it is OK to use the lack of an acceptable candidate to abstain from voting.
Another reason why it is OK to skip the election is that your vote doesn’t count. Now, listen before you overreact because, yes, the votes of the American people do help determine the next president, but they don’t wholly contribute to the election. That responsibility goes to the electoral college, which uses the state majorities to decide the winner rather than using the majority of Americans. Although, on a side note, two states — Nebraska and Maine — do not force their electoral college members to vote with the state majority. So, like what happened in 2016, more people could vote for Biden, but if the majority of states vote for Trump, then the votes of the majority of Americans are nullified.
Look at it from this perspective: In 2016, nearly 2.9 million people were denied the right to vote because the system decided that their votes didn’t count. This wasn’t a one-time situation as 5 times in American history has the system declared that democracy doesn’t exist and your votes do not count. If democracy does exist, then why are Americans, who are more educated now than when the electoral college was created, not given the right to vote for the person who will affect how they live their lives? Politics.
Politics are deemed more important than the constitutional right to vote, and both parties fear the consequences of giving the American people the full power of democracy and deciding how the government will affect their lives.
Now, the argument is not why voting is bad, because voting helps determine who will run the society of the future and it gives people a sense of power. But unless the system is corrected and the candidates become “better” (a matter of perspective, I know), then the option not to vote will always be a viable choice, for just as it is your constitutional right to vote, it is also your constitutional right to not vote.
Brandon Bowers is a senior studying English Pre-Law at Ohio University. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnists do not reflect those of The Post. What are your thoughts? Tell Brandon by tweeting him at @UnabashedlyBMB.
