Voting

A co-worker of mine was commenting about the energy at the polls yesterday. How exciting it was to see such a high voter turnout despite the snow and rain. She mentioned a little old lady who remarked that she was voting because she knew her vote was going to count this time.

I have a problem with that comment.

I believe that EVERY vote counts EVERY time.

Not just in special elections. Not just in close races.

I am happy for a high voter turnout, but that shouldn’t be newsworthy. Every race deserves a high voter turnout.

It is a privilege to vote. It is our civic duty. It is our right.

We honor those who died for our rights when we vote.

There are 4.1 million eligible voters in the state of Massachusetts. 2.2 million voted on Tuesday. Just over half the eligible voters. What happened to the other 1.9 million?

The official results:

Brown (GOP)
52%
1,168,107 votes

Coakley (Dem.)
47%
1,058,682 votes

Kennedy (Lib.)
1%
22,237 votes

Senator-elect Brown, 48% of the voters who bothered to vote did NOT vote for you.

We will be watching what you say and do.