Virg Bernero, Democratic nominee for Governor of Michigan in 2010.

By Mike Fossano

If you’re 18 or older and a registered voter, I’ve got a message for you: please, for the love of God get out to your local polling place this Tuesday and vote.

I’m not interested in hearing excuses—absentee ballots (deadline has passed) are incredibly easy to get a hold of. If you’re a Michigander, polls will be open from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Central and Eastern Time, and the usually close-to-home locations allow for even the busiest person to take time out to vote. Being able to step up and cast your vote is a privilege and a source of empowerment. And I don’t want to hear that “my vote doesn’t count” nonsense, either. Need I remind you of this or that? How about this gem? It’s no secret that there is a general sense of apathy among college-aged voters, and perhaps that also has something to do with the failures of the political parties.

Rick Snyder, Republican nominee for Governor of Michigan in 2010.

I’d also like to encourage people to ignore public opinion polls, or at least take them with a grain of salt. While they do serve a purpose at taking the general temperature of voters, they are very susceptible to erroneous reports and are typically pulled from a group of only 500-1,000 people. True, midterm elections may lack the cache of a presidential race (save for perhaps the gubernatorial candidates), however, they’re just as—if not more—important because decisions made by local delegates will have a more immediate and stronger impact on our day-to-day lives than what comes from Washington, D.C.

If you’re 18 or older and NOT a registered voter, I’ve got a message for you, too: please fall back. You are hereby stripped of your right to bitch and complain about our elected leaders and the legislative process. You can’t sit idly during elections and then later pile on when it’s convenient—you had your chance and still chose to not be a part of the system.

I strongly encourage everyone to visit www.publius.org to brush up on everything that you need to know about the election, including information on all local candidates, proposals and millages.

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