I Voted. Will I Ever Again?

Here in California every registered voter is sent a vote-by-mail ballot in early October, and I just completed and returned mine. I feel no need to wait for more information about any race. I find the choices clear.

I have never skipped voting in a presidential election.  Since moving to California in 1980, I don’t believe I missed casting a ballot in any general election or primary.  Back in 1972, when I edited my college newspaper and was part of the first wave of 18-year-olds who could vote, I earnestly wrote an editorial encouraging all my fellow students to vote.

Today, I’m not so sure I would write that same plea. 

When a sizable minority of the country refuses to accept the results of the last election, when that crowd of MAGA liars can’t present any true evidence of fraud, when they all refuse to accept the judgement of judges around the country refuting their claim, and when they pre-emptively say they don’t trust any election they don’t win . . . well, then how can you encourage them to vote? Hasn’t every one of those individuals showed they lack the good judgement to make an informed decision? Do you really want people operating under such delusions deciding your fate? And the fate of your friends and children and planet? I don’t.

That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t like to see a huge turnout between now and election day. It only means that I hope that the great majority of those who choose to vote are ones who truly believe in voting, elections, and democracy.

After all, the stakes are high. Are we really willing to give up fifty years of protecting individuals’ rights, in areas like abortion, contraception, same sex marriage and interracial marriage? Are we prepared to let the MAGA GOP gut Social Security and give in to Putin over the Ukraine? Are we not willing to fight to protect our planet for our children and grandchildren?

Still I need to ask: “Will I ever vote again?” It’s not because I’m like a little boy pouting if he doesn’t get his way. If a real vote is possible, I will always vote. My fear is that there may never be another meaningful election. There are just under 350 election denying candidates running for Congress or state wide offices.  Some 60% of them are almost certain to win based on their district demographics. If Congress were to be controlled by Republicans, then Congress will be controlled by people who refuse to accept election results they don’t like. Do you really expect them to do things that support a democratic republic? Or will they view our elections more like Ukrainian referendums on joining Russia—just something for show?

Some who read my despairing blog after Trump’s election in 2016 thought I had gone off the deep end. Well, it turned out the water was even deeper than I feared.  And now we’re being washed into ever more dangerous currents.

The only life preserver I see is for everyone who believes in our country’s traditions to get out and vote this election. We’re all counting on each and every one of you to be part of the lifeline!

And for those who need a positive note, I have noticed a lot of monarch butterflies flitting about this week. Since we’re in one of the wintering areas for western monarchs, I am hopeful that is a sign of a positive rebound in their population. So vote and help save the monarchs!

An AI-generated image on the free tool Craiyon after typing in the words “monarch butterfly and election box”

Please check out all my novels in either paperback or Kindle format, including Tales from the Loon Town Café, The Finnish Girl, The Devil’s Analyst, and The Long Table Dinner. All titles are available to read for free to Amazon Prime subscribers. 

www.amazon.com/author/dennisfrahmann

I Voted. What’s Your Plan?

I did it. I’m locked in. I filled out my ballot. To ensure it gets counted, Robert and I drove to the county building in San Luis Obispo to drop off our respective ballots. I need no more time to learn more about any state or local issues and candidates. I have done my homework. As for the national horror show . . . well, I don’t intend to reward a sociopathic narcissist.

I’m proud to say that I have never failed to vote in a national election. Back in 1968, I was a 15-year-old campaign volunteer for Eugene McCarthy, but too young to vote. My first vote was in 1972 while away at college. On my mail-in absentee ballot, this 19-year-old college sophomore proudly wrote in the name of John Hospers of the Libertarian party ticket. That write-in probably blew the minds of the poll counters in my little hometown in northern Wisconsin.

(Fun historical fact. Hospers technically came in third that year because an errant Virginia elector cast his vote for Hospers instead of Nixon. In that act, he also cast the first electoral vote ever for a woman. That went to Toni Nathan, Hospers’s VP running mate.)

Of course, Nixon won, but not for long. The next summer in 1973, during the start of the Watergate hearings, I was an intern in Washington, DC, working for the Libertarian Task Force. That’s when I first encountered Joe Biden, then a freshmen senator from Delaware. Our project was to rate every U.S. senator in terms of their fiscal responsibility. This morning, I dug up my copy of the old report to see how Biden fared. It turns out we didn’t rate any freshmen senators because they had too short of a record.

But I did come across a note from the leader of that Task Force along with clippings of the major national coverage the report garnered. He wrote proudly that “all of the big guys in the right wing know who we are” because of our report. Even in 1973, his reference probably included the Koch brothers who were young ardent libertarian supporters. I apologize for any role I may have played back then in fostering distrust of government spending.

By 1976 (with Nixon resigned in disgrace), I lived in Minneapolis and cast my first presidential vote in a real polling place. Remember those big mechanical voting machines? As I recall, I opted for Gerald Ford, who I have always viewed as a well-grounded and decent fellow.

In 1980, now in California with voting taking place in garages and other small precinct venues, I felt quite differently about Ronald Reagan. In fact, his victory that night so concerned me that I went into work the next morning to tell my biggest secret to my boss and co-workers:  I was gay. It would take three more years to tell my parents. But it was the only way I knew to fight back against much of what Reagan stood for. 

Curiously my extreme reaction turned out to be a good thing. As the Eighties went on, I was already “out” at work. It made it easy for me to work with other Xerox employees to convince the executives of that once very important company to be among the first to extend domestic partner benefits. And it probably also helped my partner Robert feel comfortable to be an equally open advocate at Disney with similar success.

Of course, there have been many elections since then. I even ended up voting for Reagan in his second run. After 38 years of filling out ballots, there are certainly votes I would cast differently if I were able to redo them (maybe that one for Reagan). But I have never regretted having voted, nor felt it was a waste of time. And whether my candidate won or lost, I never feared for the continuation of the American experiment.

Now I have that fear. That is why I voted early. That is why I encourage everyone I know to vote—even if I know they are going to vote for Trump. We all need to be full participants in our government. We need to own the results.

Please vote.

Please check out all my novels in paperback or Kindle format, including:  Tales from the Loon Town Cafe, The Finnish Girl, The Devil’s Analyst—and my latest, The Long Table Dinner.

www.amazon.com/author/dennisfrahmann