In the 2008 Presidential election I was a fresh and barely legal, only 18-years-old. I had registered to vote by the deadline and received my voter’s ID card, but because of a back log, I couldn’t vote at the machine. I had to file a paper ballot. I sat at the polling place and cried tears until my face turned red. Staff and other voters tried to console me, but somehow I felt that my vote did not matter because I was filing a paper ballot. I voted anyway and was determined to vote at a machine in the next presidential election.
Four years later, when I decided to move from my beloved DMV to South Florida for my first post-graduate job, I knew there were a few things I had no intention of doing. I was not going to get my driver’s license switched to a Florida ID. (A totally waste of money when I just got my 21 and over ID last year). I was not going to get my license plate switched over. And most important, I was not going to register to vote in Florida. What can I say, Baltimore has my heart!! (And by the time most of these things expired I have intentions to be back in the northeast region.)
Since I would not be able to vote fly back to Baltimore to vote in the 2012 Presidential election I decided to request an absentee ballot. It wasn’t until this past weekend when I handled my ballot to the mailman that I felt another twinge that my vote did not matter.
Should I have sucked it up and cast my ballot in Florida?
Maryland is predominantly a blue state, although it can lean red from time-to-time. However, Florida is overwhelmingly a swing state. Even my 10-year-old self remembers the controversy when George W. Bush “won” Florida in the 2000 election.
But what is a swing state?
Swing states are essentially battleground states where the votes in the electoral college are likely to vary between the Democratic and Republic from race to race. No one party dominates or controls the majority of votes in the college. These states play a large factor in determining the outcome of the race.
Which states are swing states?
For the 2012 Presidential election, the Washington Post reports the major swing states as Ohio, Wisconsin and rainy Florida (where I now reside.)
Sound off: Do you live in or have ever lived in a swing state? Did it make you left like your vote mattered more?
The post Last Minute Regrets?: To Vote Or Not To Vote In A Swing State appeared first on The DC Ladies:.
