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It's Time To Master Your Vote

You’re busier than ever yet, not as active as you once were. The daily logistics that seemed to happen automatically before COVID-19 are now cumbersome and don’t work as smoothly.

Working from home. Co-teaching kids. Bored at times. You might feel guilty for not doing more and stressing about the economy, the stability of your current job, or finding more income if you don’t have enough. Safeguarding your family’s health and that of your aging parents is paramount. Finding affordable and effective health insurance and paying taxes weigh heavily on your mind as the open enrollment season begins. You’re hoping the car will last longer than the pandemic, and then damn, you turn on the news and whomp! There’s more to confuse you.

When times are hard, and you don’t know what else to do, it’s helpful to look for what you can control. That’s not a naïve suggestion. Sometimes it’s a lifeline to sanity and optimism. It’s a step up and out of feeling completely overwhelmed.


Focus on the things you can control.


I have two suggestions that take will a little bit of effort but will move you a degree away from feeling out of control and more than a few degrees toward feeling better. (Ok, there are four, but I don’t want to scare you off.)

Let’s begin with one for this month and one for the next two months. It’s not enough to take away all your worries, but it’s a start. Read on to tackle the remaining two challenges.

First, take a few minutes to verify you are registered to vote: https://www.usa.gov/confirm-voter-registration (Go on, click on the link. I’ll wait. It’ll open in a new tab and you can come back here when you’re finished.)

Please DO NOT rely on your memory, say that you’re too busy, or think eligible because you voted in the last election. Many states are purging voter lists, and the deletions are not 100% accurate. Data entry is never foolproof, and you may have been removed without realizing it. Do it now because it can take more time than you think to sort out an error. If your registration is accurate, you can feel good knowing that’s settled and cross it off your list.

The second suggestion takes more time but is just as important. Promise me you’ll commit to yourself and your integrity, not only as a thinking adult but because of your vital importance to this country’s function and your fellow citizens, to diversify your news consumption.

I am asking you to stop relying on a single news outlet to predigest and then regurgitate to you as truth their version of what a candidate said or did. Sure, it’s fast and easy to watch 30 minutes of broadcast news that 'covers' ten subjects.


But when we accept another’s version without question, we become parrots. Maybe your experience is different, but the last parrots I heard didn’t have a well thought out case for their opinion. (In fact, they were focused only on landing someplace comfortable. Don't let that describe you!)

Deliberately choose to listen and read viewpoints you find incomprehensible or repulsive and question yourself why you feel like you do. Question your opinions. Ask someone to explain to you why their ideas are so different from your own. Listen without responding with your viewpoint, unless they invite you to take a turn.

I’m not asking you to change your opinion. I am asking you to explore your motivations, your history, and, most importantly, your fears.

Regardless of which ‘side’ you lean toward, understand that, like you, all news outlets have a bias, some more than others. Their slant shows in the words they choose. For example, did she sing or did she bellow?


They skew truth and context in where they start and end video clips, and which experts they choose to interpret current events to you. While they are indebted to you because you drive their ratings, they are also just as beholden to their sponsors or their owners, if not more so.

You may feel better if you don’t explore other opinions because it’s less stress (and that has value, too).