#GetOutTheVote

Happy Tuesday!

In case you weren't aware, today is election day in the U.S.

I hope everyone's planning on voting or already has voted!

Some part of me decided that I should wake up at like 5:30 am to go to my polling place right when it had just opened, so I was there before the sun had come out for the day. I cast my votes, then went home and went back to bed.

The election is officially out of my hands and in those of the people who still need to vote.

So, if you're reading this and you haven't already voted, please go vote. It's not hard, you can find your polling place with a simple google search. All you have to do is put your address in the box and it tells you where to vote.

Of course, you should probably also know what you're voting for, so if you don't know what offices and measures are going to be on your ballot, then check it out with another simple google search. 

Today was my fifth time voting in an election, and the first time I've voted in this district. I voted in my first election when I was 17 years old, actually, because I was registered for the general election, I was allowed to vote in the primary even though I wasn't 18 yet. Since Obama was incumbent in the 2012 primary, I voted in the Republican primary (in VA you don't have to be registered under a party to vote in that party's primary--you just tell them which ballot you want). I then voted in the 2012 presidential election (for Obama) and I also voted for marriage equality (I was voting in Maryland and that was one of the ballot measures that election). In 2014, I [absentee] voted Tim Kaine for VA Senator. In the primary this March, I [absentee] cast my vote for Bernie Sanders. And today, I cast my most well-prepared-for ballot, having done research on both of the ballot measures as well as the 5 separate offices I was voting on. 

Because voting isn't just about the presidential candidates.

So yes, vote for the presidential candidate you think is best suited for the job, but also look at what else is on your ballot.

I voted for the next mayor of Richmond City.
I voted for a Congressman.

I voted for a new City Council Representative for my District.

I voted for a new Richmond City Board of Education Representative for my District.

And I voted on two VA Constitutional Amendments: one regarding "right to work" in Virginia and one that, if passed, will allow localities to grant tax relief to those whose spouses lost their lives serving as police officers or fire fighters.

So, go. Vote. Do your patriotic duty.

If you don't, you don't get to complain about what happens.

xx,

Sienna

The Fierce Feminist