Exercising Your Vote

The right to vote is part of what it means to be an American. We take it for granted, often thinking it is not important or our vote isn’t going to make a difference. Sometimes we rely on others to do our voting for us, forgetting that there are, at this very moment, places in this world where the individual voice is not even allowed to be heard.

Now this may seem like an odd topic to be writing about in May, but I have been in jury duty for nine, yes, count them, NINE days now so I am a bit consumed in civic duty.

And then of course there was last night’s finale of Dancing With The Stars. In case you missed it, I have been a Gilles and Cheryl fan from the beginning, and not just because Gilles is hot and sexy and arguably has one of the best male physiques on the planet. He, in my opinion, was the best dancer. And since I took dancing lessons faithfully for almost three years with Alex Tchassov, I consider myself a bit more qualified than the average viewer to assess.

I vote. On Election Day in November and every week that DWTS is on. I get on line, sign in to abc.com and place my votes.

People have made fun of me when I tell them I vote for my DWTS favorites. But I consider that part of the fun of my indulgence of watching this kitschy show that completely entertains me. Plus, when given the opportunity to vote, why not seize it?

So at 11PM last night, after the winners had been announced and the phone rang I knew it was my friend Nancy Moon, calling to commiserate over what happened. I was sure it was simply that Shawn’s fans were more vocal. They took their right to vote more seriously. They knew that every vote counts.