just under 50% of people voted in Ohio in the 2020 election.

Trump won by 8%.

If just 9% of the people who felt like you (what’s the point of voting) had showed up to vote for Biden, that would have flipped the state.

No single raindrop believes it can make any difference. But together, all those insignificant raindrops can change the course of a river in a single day.

Always vote. There’s always someone analyzing trends, and you don’t truly know where it’s heading until you get there.

I do somewhat understand since I moved to Massachusetts: I’ll get my preference regardless whether I vote. But it does matter, even if it’s just a trend: I was a bit disappointed Biden didn’t quite get 2/3 last time around: he won with only 65.6%. We can do better! My county only voted 71.5% for Biden and there were at least three counties better. We can do better!

At least as importantly, it does give me more freedom to vote third party, in the comfort of knowing my state’s electoral votes will all go toward the sane option. Historically we’ve had reasonably strong showings for third party candidates, but last time was only 2%

Absolutely. Voting in federal, state, and local elections makes big differences. I’ve lived in red and blue states, and my votes have personally swayed policy for red and blue states. Some of the stuff I voted for passed on margins as slim as 1,200 votes, in a city of hundreds of thousands of people (guess how many of them voted?)

As a direct result of me voting, my life dramatically improved because my cut bus lines were restored, the feds rebuilt parts of my city, and people were no longer getting arrested on bullshit charges.

Further civic action saved one local park from redevelopment.

So few people actually vote, even fewer with bad takes. So voting can have a profound impact on your life and other’s lives. Some of my friends got the right to marry. Some others lost their ability to access healthcare and were forced to move states to access it again. It makes a difference.

This doesn’t end with Americans either. You guys worldwide have had a number of extremely close elections, see the list below. Do your civic duty and vote! It can take an hour or less with a bit of research, and has a surprisingly big impact on your life.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_close_election_results

Your vote is sending a signal to future elections. If Ohio has a 20-point red margin, it’s unlikely to get any attention from blue candidates. If it has a 5% margin, that changes, and suddenly the next campaign considers spending time & money to try and move the needle.

Remember the old Roman adage: “you’re not defeated until you admit defeat”. If you don’t vote: you’ve lost. If you vote, you might still lose that election but there’s a better chance to win in the future.

Always vote. Progressives lose elections because 30% of any population votes for the conservative at every single election, no matter what, like it’s a religion. Progressives need a culture that says: ALWAYS VOTE. It doesn’t fucking matter if it doesn’t fucking matter. Vote anyway. Let your kids see you voting like it’s actually important. Make it important.

Vote anyway. Voter apathy is largely how things got so bad.

I’m in a similarly red state. I know my vote probably isn’t going to matter (thanks, Obama Electoral College), but I’m going to do it anyway. And I’m trying to get as many people around me out to vote as well.