I voted. You should, too.

Today, because I will be on the road next Tuesday, I voted early.

I'm always happy and excited to vote, because I consider it to be one of the greatest gifts and privileges that I enjoy as a citizen of the U.S.

If you've already voted or intend to vote, thank you, and good on you.

If you're considering skipping the polls this year, please don't.  Please.  So many elections are critical this year, with the most critical of all being, of course, the contest for the presidency of our country.  If you read this blog regularly, you already know that I desperately want to keep Trump out of that office, which is one of the many reasons why I voted today for Hillary Clinton for President.

If you also want to keep Trump far, far away from control of our country, vote for Clinton.

If, like me, you want to get rid of our state's awful HB2 law, vote in a new governor and new legislators.

Even, though, if you oppose me on every issue, I want you to vote.  If I'm going to lose, I'd far rather it be to the will of the overwhelming majority of my fellow citizens than to the decisions of a minority of them.

Vote.

Vote

Unless you've completely tuned out the outside world, you know that this coming Tuesday, November 4, is an election day.  Here in North Carolina, it's a big one, with a Senate seat, seats in the House, seats in the state legislature, and a lot of judicial seats up for grabs.  Money from outside NC has been flooding into our state in an attempt to sway the election.  Ads are everywhere.

As anyone who has read this blog for long knows, I am a political liberal.  I think the current North Carolina legislature has behaved abominably and done a great deal of damage to our state.  I fear the stupid behavior and slowdowns that will come if the Republicans end up controlling both houses of the U.S. Congress.

If you agree with me, get out and vote, and help the Democrats retain control of the U.S. Senate and gain some more control within this state (or wherever you live).

Even if you don't agree with me, though, I urge you to vote your beliefs.  A lot of people over a lot of years have sacrificed everything they had to keep our country as free as it is today, and the right to vote is one of the greatest of those freedoms.  I know many people feel their votes won't matter, but election after election we encounter races so close that every vote was important. 

If an overwhelming majority of my fellow citizens vote against my positions, then I'll have to live with that or move to another country--and I don't plan on moving.  If I'm going to lose, I'd like it to be because my fellow citizens clearly spoke. 

Next Tuesday is going to be a particularly insane day for me, so I voted early.  The process was easy, the experience pleasant.  If you don't want to fight the crowds on Tuesday, vote early.  If you like being among a big group of other voters--something I do sometimes enjoy--maybe wait for next Tuesday.  Either is fine. 

Just vote. 

VOTE!

Yes, I feel strongly enough about the topic to use both all capital letters and bold font. I really do.

Today is an election day. Exercise your constitutional right to vote. Head to your polling place, and vote for the candidates you prefer. If you feel that you don't know enough to vote yet, study up; you can find useful data and digest it in a short time. The polls will be open for at least several more hours.

More often than not in my years of voting, I have opted for candidates who lost. It doesn't matter. I tried. I gave them my vote, not enough other people did, and they lost. So it goes. What matters is that we all try to put in place the leaders we think will do the best jobs (or the least damage, which is sometimes the same thing).

Many Americans before us have shed blood, lost loved ones, given up everything they had, and in many cases died to secure for us the right to vote. Use that right, and vote today.