I missed being eligible to vote in the 2004 election by about a month. In retrospect, I don’t really mind. Last election was, after all, a competition between a giant douche and a turd sandwhich.
I also didn’t particularly mind not voting because the state in which I was residing at the time (Illinois) was obviously going to Kerry. That is not to say that I would have voted for Kerry, but the fact remains that votes do not matter as much in states like Illinois where everyone knows the state’s going blue whether you vote or not. This will be especially true for Illinois residents when our homeboy, Barack Obama, pares off against McCain’s washed up old ass.
Until recently I thought that Minnesota, my new state of residence for the past 3 years, was going blue without a doubt. The thought of voting really never came to mind. I figured if I were to vote, I would just vote for Nader or something, given that this will likely be his last superficial campaign. Recently, however I saw a poll showing obama leading McCain 47%-46% with a 4% margin of error. I couldn’t believe it was actually that close. That poll has completely changed my outlook of the election.
For the first time, I will vote. I’m a political science major in my last year of undergraduate studies and I have never voted for anything in my life. For the first time, I feel like I have a chance to actually make a difference because according to that poll, Minnesota is a swing state. I’ve been as apathetic as one could be towards voting since I turned 18 in 2004, but no more. There is simply no room for voter’s apathy in Minnesota this year.
I didn’t vote in the primaries, because I figured basically the same thing; that IL was going to Obama no matter what. I don’t really regret it. However, I DO think those MN numbers will eventually settle closer toward one side once these campaigns pan out a bit more.