Importance of Being a Voter

Portions of this article are excerpted from WTF’s favorite Creative Commons news source, the Colorado Independent. Thanks, guys.

President Trump’s inspired program to disenfranchise liberal American voters, also known as the Kobach Commission, has been a tremendous success. In Colorado, Democrats and Independents, fearful that their voting histories, though already a matter of public record, would be used by the Kobach Commission to, well, put them in camps, or get them fired, or at least disenfranchise them, rushed to their county courthouses to disenfranchise themselves.

The graph above shows the number of Democrats, Republicans, and Unaffiliated (and other) voters who gave up their registration each day since the formation of the Pence-Kobach commission. In total, of the 6,648 voters who unregistered, 3,070 were Democrats and 2,387 were unaffiliated. Only 1,024 Republicans gave up their registration. In other words, by needlessly fearing the Kobach commission, Democrats are putting themselves at a potential disadvantage at the polls.

The good news is, Colorado is the easiest state for voters. If you haven’t moved in or out of state, you can re-register and vote on Election Day. But by not being registered you are ceding all kinds of other power. Your party won’t contact you. You won’t receive information about elections. You won’t receive a primary ballot.

WTF is telling you: If you are not registered to vote, DO IT NOW!

Critical Reasons to Vote

If Graham-Cassidy passes, Colorado loses a lot of Federal money, and Colorado will need to pass laws to guarantee coverage to people with pre-existing conditions, including the pre-existing condition of being a woman. Colorado will need to relax TABOR in order to levy taxes to make up for the Medicaid funding that will be lost. Colorado is a wealthy state, and we can ensure that people covered now do not lose coverage. But this will only happen if the Democratic Party holds the Governor’s Mansion, the State House, and retakes the State Senate.

Properly constraining the Oil and Gas Industry. and beginning the serious transition away from fossil fuel and toward 100% renewable energy is equally critical for Colorado. Again, this will not happen if Republicans hold even one branch of the state government. All Coloradans who understand that Climate Change is real and that we can and must prevent the collapse of the biosphere need to activate themselves and vote. The alternative is too disastrous to consider.

Originally published in The Weathervane No 18 on September 21, 2017. [Subscribe]