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Virginia residents should exercise their right to vote

Although public opinion polls have consistently shown Republican Bob McDonnell ahead of Democrat Creigh Deeds in the race for Virginia’s governorship over the last several weeks, it is voter turnout that will ultimately decide today’s election. That same dynamic is also at work in the state’s two undercard races for lieutenant governor and attorney general.

Given that President Barack Obama won Virginia handily last year, many national media pundits have said the outcome of Virginia’s gubernatorial race may well be a bellwether of sorts for congressional elections in 2010. A Deeds victory — for which the Obama administration has worked especially hard — would widely be interpreted as confirmation of Obama’s continued popularity. A win for McDonnell, on the other hand, would show there are limits to the president’s considerable powers of persuasion.

No matter the outcome of today’s vote, however, if recent history is any guide, even an election as consequential as this will fail to draw a majority of voters to the polls. Not that the Old Dominion is some sort of aberration in that regard. It’s not. Even in presidential election years, it’s all too common for a minority of Americans to make decisions for the majority.

While we like to think of ourselves as living in the world’s greatest democracy, nations like France regularly report 70 percent or better turnout in their elections, compared to America’s average of 35 percent to 50 percent.

Larry Sabato, a University of Virginia professor nationally recognized as an astute observer of politics and the political process, has noted that it’s exceedingly difficult to get most of us out of our daily routines, even on election days.

The result, says Sabato is that potential voters “go to work, they go to lunch, they go home, but they don’t go to vote.”

Many non-voters apparently believe that their votes don’t count for a variety of familiar reasons. Some believe big business runs everything anyway; others maintain there’s not a dime’s worth of difference between the candidates; still others say one vote never decides an election. But these are rationalizations, not reasons.

History is replete with examples of how important just one vote can be. If the majority of persons eligible to vote believe their government is run for the benefit of the few, rather than the many, democracy as we now know it will not last.

At any rate, one good way to make such a view a reality is to turn off and drop out of the political process.

Life is hectic. Meals have to be cooked, children have to be readied for school, deadlines at work have to be met. But please make some time today to discharge your highest responsibility as a citizen and vote.

It’s the best antidote to political cynicism we know.

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I made the time to vote today, and was very proud to take my oldest daughter (who is now 18) to vote for the first time. Voting is both an honor and an obligation.

Lana Kennedy | 11/3/2009 - 6:21 PM - (Suggest Removal )

Why Vote? No one to vote for! Republican Bob McDonnell an Democrat Creigh Deeds are the same. More big government!

Anthony Holt | 11/3/2009 - 10:48 AM - (Suggest Removal )

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