Election turnout can be swayed by interest and sentiment.

Care deeply about the position? More people show up. Not excited by the candidates? More people stay home. The ballots cast rise and fall with our rage or our apathy, our engagement and our disdain.

A 2007 study by researchers including George A. Krause, then of the University of Pittsburgh, found that there is truth to the axioms that American voters are squeamish enough about the weather to forsake their sacred voting duty if it rains or snows and that bad weather is generally a boon to the Republican Party.

So what could a pandemic do?

Pennsylvanians go to the polls on Tuesday to vote in a primary that moved up from May to April in keeping with the presidential election year, but was then pushed into June because of social distancing and coronavirus lockdowns.

For many voters, this isn’t going to be a big deal. Hundreds of thousands of mail-in ballots have been requested, and many of those have already been filled out and sent back to their respective county election offices.

That means Election Day already passed on couches and at kitchen tables for a considerable portion of the state’s 8.5 million voters, regardless of weather and six-foot distances.

But for the rest, hopefully a projected cloudy day with temperatures in the 70 degree range will be enough to make it worth the effort.

Because we can’t just be fair-weather voters.

Voting may be easy when it’s nice out and when we have a candidate we like, but it is just as important — maybe all the more important — when the chips are down and the candidates aren’t the ones who make us warm and fuzzy inside.

It is when things aren’t perfect that the differences become stark and the path less (or more) chosen might take us to the right destination. That is when we have to step up and make our choices known.

Maybe you are one of those who already picked your presidential candidates and marked the ballot for your state offices and your convention delegates. If you did, thumbs up. You did your job. You participated in the process. Gold star.

If you are one of the registered voters who didn’t, please don’t let anything come between you and this solemn responsibility on Tuesday.

If it rains, break out your umbrella. If the lines are long, bring a book. If it’s inconvenient, make the time.

No one can do this for you. Your vote is a gift only you can give.

Don’t let it go to waste.

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