Santa Barbara County voters will cast their ballots Tuesday at polls during the primary election.
I’m not blaming you. You who did not vote in the last national election, I have not enough blame for you: the 80 million who did not vote.
Yet according to Fact Check, there are 133 million registered voters in the United States. So you mathematicians, get ready for a math test.
In the 2020 election, Facebook on Dec. 21 claimed President Joe Biden received 22 million phantom votes. Simple math: President Donald Trump received 74 million of this total of 133 million, leaving 59 million for President Biden, yet Joe Biden received 81 million. Add the phantom votes. So Einstein, where did 22 million votes come from?
Let’s look at your excuses for not voting: 29% when you reached the age of 18, didn’t bother to register to vote. 23% were not interested in who runs our government. 20% did not like the candidates. 16% felt their vote wouldn’t make a difference, and 10% feel parties and politicians don’t care
In 1944, when I turned 18, I couldn’t wait to show I was a citizen of these United States ,and because we were at war (World War II), I wanted to do my patriotic duty. Not only did I register to vote (when I was 21, the voting age at the time), I took the B & M railroad from Beverly into Boston and went to the USO to dance with the servicemen.
In high school, we rolled bandages, 17,000 of them for the Beverly Hospital. We saved tin, elastic, paper and iron, we had Victory Corps, Land, Sea and Air groups. We wrote letters , and as soon as my classmates turned 18, they registered for the draft.
My generation showed their patriotism and when you hear of the “Great Depression,” it wasn’t the depression that was great. It was the people who banded together. They were the great citizens, showed their love of country, didn’t .complain when we had to shop with ration stamps for butter, coffee and gas. And when graduation came for the class of 1944, our parents got together and siphoned a little gas from their cars so we, the graduates could go and celebrate.
Have I got your attention as to why it is important to vote in each election? In doing so, you are showing you have an interest in what makes this country great.
We have Tuesday for the primary, and your vote decides who will be selected to run for some of our offices. Then in 2024 we will vote again and decide who will be the president.
Can I ask a small favor from you? Will you make an effort to cast your vote to show you do care who will hold the gavel and use it for peace, not war.
Thank you.
Anita Dwyer
Lompoc
