How You Can Help Someone Register To Vote Today

… or why being registered and going to the polls isn’t enough.

By Victor Landa, NewsTaco

If you’re reading this you’re probably already registered to vote. Thank you for that. Good job. If I were sitting with you I’d probably high-five you.

The reason I know that you’re already registered to vote is because you fit the general NewsTaco reader profile (around here we call you “Taquistas”):

  • you’re college educated (mostly); many, if not most of you have post grad degrees
  • you’re thought leaders in your communities, professions, and networks
  • you’re English dominant, but retain Spanish to varying degrees of fluency
  • you’re multi-generational,  meaning the majority of you are not immigrants yourselves
  • you’re busy and don’t have time for fluff, farándula or kittens on a treadmill
  • and you’re registered to vote

I’ll keep all of these things in mind as I make a point.

Today is National Voter Registration Day, you probably didn’t know that. Now look around you and try to guess how many of the people you see belong to our little registered voters club. Chances are, not too many. That’s a problem, but you know that.

Especially in today’s toxic and polarized political climate, the number of people who aren’t registered to vote, added to the number of people who are registered but don’t go to the polls, is scandalous (if it isn’t, it should be).

Here’s why: the damaging chasm in politics isn’t between liberals and conservatives, it’s between fanaticism and complacency. On the one hand both sides of the political aisle are entrenched in fanatical partisanship, where no sense of compromise or common good exists because the fanaticism trickles down to those who keep them in power.

On the other hand, any hope of level-headed political thinking is lost by dismal voter participation. Many Latinos fall into this sleeper category. I won’t string-out the statistics we all know: there’s a great potential if only more Latinos would register and vote. But the fanatical nuts on both sides stay in power because the majority of the voters that go to the polls share in the nuttiness. The way political districts are drawn across the country has a lot to do with the overall antagonism.

And that brings me to you, and what you can do, today being National Voter Registration Day and all …

Simple. Those people around you who you think may not be registered? Try registering them. Walk over to them with your mobile device in hand, say “hey, check out this great kitten video!” and open this website:

http://www.nationalvoterregistrationday.org/

Act surprised, like it wasn’t your intention and say, “by the way, are you registered to vote?” or something to that effect.

Make it a point today to do your part to bridge the gap between nuts and sleepers. The way things are and seem to be going, being registered to vote and going to the polls on election day isn’t enough. Nowadays, we’ve got be voting evangelists, active in the idea that the way things are is not good enough – we’ve got to do something about it.

Oh, and let me know if the kitty bait-and-switch thing works.

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