Just a reminder for all you mentors, parents, alumni, and 18+ year old students to go and vote tomorrow (Nov 4).
National and State elections are important, but for a robotics team the most direct impact is often from local races for school board. Find out which candidates support activities in robotics and which incumbents have been road blocks to your team’s success.
+1
You are all bunch of smart people, so I will not say “Vote wisely”, just vote!
+2.
Voting is extremely important, and who you vote for will have an impact on your team, and the program.
It is hard to imagine that people do not see the importance of voting, but judging by the numbers too many do not bother. Being a non-presidential year the numbers will probably be worse. We try to keep politics out of this forum (a chore for me) but if you look at the example of Dean Kamen and how often politicians are a part of the opening and closing ceremonies you should be able to tell he thinks we should be involved, and the least we can do is vote.
It is easy to think that one individual vote will not matter when the margin of victory for the winning candidate will almost certainly be more than one vote.
I have actually seen races that turned on a few votes but you are correct, it is very rare. But the funny thing is that if you vote and let it be known you vote, you may remind another, it may start to sound like a normal thing to do, and you could actually convince others to vote. Then if you decide you are going to vote, you will want to pay attention to who is running and what they are doing, and politicians pay attention to the people paying attention to them. It all starts with one vote.
I was reminded yesterday by a radio newscast here, how important it is to vote. Al Franken, Democratic Senator from Minnesota, won an election by only 300 votes. What is more important is the support we receive from Senator Fanken in Minnesota. He asks that his staff schedule visits with robotics teams in the state when he is traveling around. He has been to several Minnesota events and loves the program. Al sees the benefits to the students in his state. With the help of other volunteers in Minnesota, there will be close to 200 teams in Minnesota this year. A number that exceeds the number of varsity men’s hockey teams in that state.
A smart person once told me, “if you don’t vote, you get the government you deserve.”
I just voted at my new location. I’ve voted 8 times in the past and this is the first time I’ve had to use a … paper ballot :ahh:
Quick facts:
2,700+
2,300+ veterans
400+ rookies
68,000+ students
16,000+ mentors/adult
11,000+ other volunteers
If 10% of total number is from other countries, these numbers do matter, especially in the non-Presidential elections. Many times its local politics is the reason for school districts losing funds! Local issues and priorities push education funding to bottom.
Just VOTE! Please.
This is your reminder that more than 660,000 American citizens have no vote in Congress just because they live in DC. We need those of you with Congresscritters and Senators to support our quest to end our disenfranchisement. #taxationwithoutrepresentation