Vote!

Together we can change the face of politics.

There's one very simple thing you can do to make that happen. It's the single most important thing you can do. Vote.

Does your vote really count? Absolutely!

Remember that less than half of the population of California is registered to vote (or about 25% of people who are eligible don't bother to register). In elections with a high voter turnout, only half of all registered voters show up at the polls (In most years it's more like 20%). That means when a candidate is elected by a majority, only about 1/8 of of the population actually voted for that candidate. Or, to put it another way, not only does your vote count, it counts for seven other people!

Even if we can't win the vote of anyone who usually votes, if 1/4 of people who are eligible to vote but don't currently do so all vote, the political landscape will change instantly.

Be sure to register to vote (remember that your registration form needs to be in the county clerk's hands at least 15 days before the election) and then show up at the polls.

The "Wasted Vote" Myth

There's a popular myth that if you vote for a third-party candidate, you're wasting you're vote. The truth is, it's better to vote for what you want and lose than it is to vote for what you don't want and win.

If you cast your vote for "the lesser of two evils," the politician you voted for doesn't know you're voting against the other guy, that politician thinks you support their platform and agenda. They then think they've got the "political capital" to do what they want.

The only thing a politician listens to is votes. We can march, protest, call, scream, etc. forever, but in the end, it doesn't matter. A typical politician only wants to know how many votes they got.

If the politician starts seeing the number of votes they get go down, they look to see who got those votes. If the votes went to a third-party candidate, the politician has to realize that the third party is appealing to people, and change their ways.

So, you're not wasting your vote by voting for a third party, you're wasting your vote by not voting for a third party.

And, this is still a democracy. If enough people vote for a third-party candidate, the third-party candidate will win. It's happened before. It's even happened in recent memory. It can happen again.

But only if you vote.