Get Out of My Vote

I have discovered a major advantage to being registered independent of party.

I am less likely to receive a "we know you did/didn't vote" notice from either party organization, as has happened in several places around the country leading up to election day tomorrow. Both parties, it seems, have sent mailers to registered voters noting how often they have voted in recent elections. One Democratic party mailer in North Carolina ends with this sentence: “If you do not vote this year, we will be interested to hear why not.”

Should I have received such a notice, I can guarantee I would have voted. If I were still a registered Democrat and received a notice with that kind of language, I would resolve to vote for the Republican, and send notice to the party headquarters that I had done so and why. I do not care if the GOP nominee was David Bleepin' Duke; he would have my electoral support.

I take voting seriously -- if I have skipped an election, it is because my former party has nominated someone as objectionable as the other party has and I want no blame for whichever loser wins and subsequently makes losers out of the rest of us.

I will presume to speak on behalf of many registered voters of several parties and say that if those who send out letters about our voting frequency would like us to vote more often, they should make more of an effort to nominate candidates who do not suck.