Editorial: Do your part and cast your ballot
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Vote.
That’s all. Pure and simple. Just vote.
We will not tell you for whom. We will not push you toward a party or candidate. We don’t want you to embrace an ideology or platform.
We just want you to vote.
However, it’s important to not vote blindly. Do not cover your ears or hold your nose or deliberately look away from uncomfortable facts.
Vote thoughtfully. Vote with information. Vote with your mind open and your heart clear.
Think about the impact this candidate or that one will have, the impact a ballot question will have. Read information from people with whom you agree — and even more important, with those you don’t. Consider endorsements and criticisms alike.
Make your decisions about how the next governor will affect your home, your neighbors, your community. Make a choice for the U.S. Senate candidate who will represent the best interests of Pennsylvania and the nation. Pick your lawmakers for more than a slickly produced ad or brightly colored yard sign.
Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday. Come early. Bring your ID. Do your part.
Don’t vote with anger or bitterness or out of revenge. Vote with an intention to make lives better.
Our elections tally the ballots of the people who show up at the polls or vote via mail. However, decisions more often are made by a kind of apathetic attrition — the crushing weight of the ballots that aren’t cast.
That failure to launch places undue authority on the votes that are made. Our government is based on a representative democracy that can truly work only when most people play their part. There may be no greater subversion of the American experiment than lack of participation.
So vote with pride. Vote with joy. Vote with confidence.
But no matter what, vote.