While voting is our civic duty, so often the prospect of actually getting out and doing it can be somewhat daunting. There’s traffic to deal with, long lines to beat and then the old hurry up and wait. This year, my advice to make the whole experience more enjoyable is simple: bring a friend!
The sad reality of the situation is that voting is neither fun nor simple. Everybody gets a little disheartened when presented with the long, wordy ballot, the long lines and the traffic. Believe me, I’m right there with you. What can help make this whole experience better is not undertaking it alone.
This year, my friends and I decided to take advantage of absentee voting. When they first opened the envelope and looked at the ballot, I could see the confusion on their faces. One of my friends told me he was just going to vote for whoever the incumbent was, with no research, and I quickly reminded him of how irresponsible that was. He replied that he had not had enough time to research any of the candidates or the issues because he figured it would take too much time.
To get my friends educated and alleviate the stress, I suggested that we all research the state constitutional amendments and the candidates together. After a couple of hours of Googling and reading, we finally came to educated decisions that we could all be proud of. While it did take us time, we split up the research and spent that two hours laughing, debating and genuinely enjoying voting.
I believe this idea can be taken to the polls. So take my advice, find a friend, split up the research, tackle the traffic, have some good laughs and use the experience as a bonding moment.
Don’t take this task on by yourself because democracy is government by the people, not the person.