We're Motivated, But Do We Know What Matters?

I wanted to vote early to avoid the crowds. I wanted to, but less than a week away from the election I haven’t. The crowds going to vote early dwarf what we normally deal with on Election Day.

For a state like Missouri where early voting is a novelty, hesitantly permitted last presidential election due to COVID, those crowds might speak to rough edges in the system. More than 400,000 people live in my county and yet just two early voting centers are in operation. There are bound to be issues.

Since they started taking early votes last Monday, traffic for the main location has been at a nearly constant standstill exiting the Interstate during voting hours. The other location, an old shopping mall turned into a huge church, has filled up a parking lot built to support a shopping center worth of stores each day.

I look at how determined my neighbors are to vote in this election and I cannot help but think this is far more than an issue of inefficiency. After all, while many of us might want to vote early, how many of us need to vote early?

The holy grail for many political strategists — voter turnout — seems to be at play. People want to vote badly enough that they’ll wait hours to vote early.

What does that portend?

Depending on which pollsters or news outlets you listen to, it could mean wildly different things. Missouri has an amendment to codify abortion on the ballot — are that many people rushing to the polls to make it easier to kill a baby for any reason one can dream up?

I hope not. But, if not that, then it means people are desperate to place their support for their favored presidential candidate (or against the one they hate). My colleague Dennis E. Powell elucidates well the problem here: either person all but certain to get the job is woefully unqualified by even the shaky standards of a few years ago.

So, I don’t have anything more than anecdotal evidence as to why people are so desperate to cast a ballot and do it sooner rather than later. But, I am convinced it has something to do with a need for hope. A need to believe someone or something (widespread abortion?) will somehow free us and make us happy and prosperous.

None of it will.

I’m not going to say the political process is worthless. It is good that the citizens are engaged in the civic duty of voting and, while politicians are rarely focused first on our interests, I am thankful to live in a free and democratic land. No, it isn’t worthless.

But, when we hit a time where those running are normally so terrible, that’s a good time for a perspective check on what really matters. (It hasn’t changed, the situation merely spotlights it.)

The town hall for Republican Vice Presidential candidate J.D. Vance, hosted by Democratic scion turned independent Chris Cuomo, at times crossed into that territory. Vance replied to a question about the political divide by pointing to the need to remember family and friendships are more important than politics. Cuomo himself has used his NewsNation soapbox to be an outspoken opponent to our present culture of political division.

That’s a good step.

Everyone says he or she wants to see our nation fixed, but the solution is far more bound to the act of hanging onto those relationships than hanging onto a candidate. Vice President Harris and President Trump do not know you (most likely) and do not care about you (even more likely).

The friends and neighbors we are too ready to discard for them these days, on the other hand, do. And when people who care for one another keep caring for a growing circle around them, rather than building a spiral of suspicion, good things can be nurtured.

Being loving and neighborly, sadly, doesn’t cause lines to wrap buildings and cars to back up onto highways. There’s a comfort to channeling our fears and anger into a ballot box. We cast the vote, move on and feel like we have done our part.

But, unless you believe we are getting better at the moment, voting cannot be the end and neither can those whom we vote for. Even if you love the candidate you’re voting for. Even if bad amendments are defeated and good propositions pass.

Do we want better elections and a better country? Let’s start by caring for one another.