Voicing our votes

Archive Graphic by Alexa Hawksworth

Well, we’re back folks. This week’s editorial may seem pretty uncontroversial, but it is important nonetheless. The Concordian would like to remind all of you Quebec residents out there that you should definitely vote in the upcoming provincial election. There are plenty of reasons to go vote, including exercising your right to freedom while we’re not yet living under a fascist regime.

The main reason is this: voting is fun! Go out and vote, tell your friends, hell, make an event for you and some people you know to go to the polling station together. Talk about the candidates while you wait in line, socialize, network, exercise your skills in the art of virtue signaling. Voting is really as much about the journey as it is the destination.

It is easy to feel small and insignificant next to the scale of the faceless, multinational capitalist machine that is our contemporary society. But one way of confronting that is to pull up your bootstraps, go out, and be a responsible citizen.

As important as your vote is in the singular goal of electing a new political leader, it is also powerful as a statistic. If politicians see that a higher percentage of young people are voting, or whatever other demographic you’re from, future political platforms will be more tailored to your priorities and ideologies.

Politicians will see that x number of young people/students voted, what their political ideologies are, and future political campaigns will be tailored to that new information. Your vote has a direct impact in letting the powers that be know what you want.

You might feel like there’s no point in voting because none of the running candidates have your interests in mind. While there may be some truth to this, the best way to change that is to let them know that you are watching and you are invested enough to vote. If you really dislike all of the candidates, you can vote “no preference,” which still gets your opinion out there.

There’s really no excuse not to vote, especially if you claim to care about political issues. We get the whole day off from school (though sadly, the make-up day is on a Sunday), so you might as well use that time to do something productive that will make you feel accomplished and fulfilled. To find out where to vote, all you have to do is go to electionsquebec.qc.ca and enter your home location. It will provide the exact address, dates and times you can vote. If your riding isn’t in Montreal, use this as an excuse to go home for a bit. Like, “Yeah, I’m totally not homesick at all I’m just going home to vote,” in case you need to save face or protect your rep.

Vote to speak and have your voice heard. Vote to shift the structure of the society that we live in. Vote to move toward an idealized, socialist utopia. If nothing else, vote to gain a sense of superiority over those who didn’t vote. That’s always fun.

Archive Graphic by Alexa Hawksworth

 

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