Judging And The Apathetic Voter

Yesterday was Election Day, and like many others across the country, I went to the polls and cast my votes for some people for some positions.

It should have made me feel good to fulfill my civic duty and not contribute to the dreaded voter apathy, but in most cases I felt more apathetic than ever.

There were a few races I felt strongly about and wanted to cast my vote a certain way. But there were some others that I didn't even know anything about till I got to the polls. There was a whole page devoted to sitting judges and whether they should be retained. I don't know any of those people; I haven't heard anything about any of them or whether they are good at their jobs. I didn't even know these names would be on the ballot; they weren't publicized at all or even listed anywhere that I've seen.

So I had three choices. One, I vote all yes or all no just because. Two, I mix it up and probably base my choices on whether I like the person's name. Three, I don't vote in those races, which is what most people I know say they do. None of those options appealed to me, although the second would have been the most interesting. In the end, I wound up going for option one, because option two would take too long for the amount of fun I'd have, and I didn't want the polling people to think I didn't care enough to vote if I'd gone with option three.

But really, I didn't care enough to know who these candidates were ahead of time, so I ended up voting in favor of a bunch of people who could, theoretically, just be made-up names that the ballot-makers had fun putting on there. I guess I just have to wait until I am called for jury duty and find out if there is a Judge Seymour Butts presiding to know if I made the right choice.

I appreciate the fact that I live in a country where it is my legal right to vote. And I want my voice to be heard, so I do vote. Not all of my candidates won this time around, but I'm still glad that I voted.

But I am feeling some voter's remorse about those judges. The only reason I voted for them at all was because I didn't want people to think ill of me for not voting. But if all people voted like I did for those judges, would that really be a good thing?

Even in the "big" races, people cast their votes for all sorts of reasons. For example, in the gubernatorial election in my state this time around, the candidates' hair was an oft-discussed topic. Which would emerge victorious -- Democrat incumbent Rod Blagojevich's helmet or Republican challenger Judy Baar-Topinka's Ronald McDonald-like dye job? Hair aside, this was one of those "lesser of the evils" type elections where you hold your nose and vote helmet or dye job, or you vote Green Party out of protest, so I can imagine that people voted one way or another because of hair or any number of other reasons if they weren't sure who to choose.

Is this how we are supposed to make our votes count? I would rather have people who don't feel strongly about a race exercise their right not to vote than choose arbitrarily. Either do your homework and vote for who you want or don't vote at all. But then again, is the latter an exhibition of voter apathy? Should we all simply buckle down and study up on every single candidate in every single elected office? That seems like a lot of hassle. And what if there is no personal connection to base one's vote on? If I have never been to court or know anyone who has been to court, and cannot predict what reason I might someday go to court, how am I going to know who I want as a judge when I get there? Seymour Butts is sounding like a better and better candidate all the time.

I don't know what the solution is, but trying to figure it out just seems like a lot of hassle.