Blog the Vote

Without disclosing my own stance, I'd like to take the opportunity to encourage my readers to make an effort to get involved in the political process.

This year's race for the presidential nomination has been exciting and heated on both sides of the aisle. Up until the primaries started and the candidates started to get their delegates in a row for their respective potential nominations, there were something like 8 or 9 people in each party who wanted to replace George Bush as our nation's leader. You can't get away from the political advertisements or political news stories on TV and radio. Sometimes this can all be overwhelming and hard to sort out sometimes, which can make it difficult to get involved in the process.

We as Americans have the right to vote and choose who leads our nation, which is something that people around the world are constantly fighting for. However, not everyone in the nation is voting. In 2000, roughly 52% of the population who are eligible to vote got out there and voted. This means that half of the people are speaking up for all of the people. While they're expecting that number to be higher this year, it still will likely not be 100%, or even 90% of the eligible population.

If you're not registered to vote, I encourage you to do so. Sure, we're only one vote individually, but that one vote could break a tie and that's where the power lies.

Some Links For Your Reference*:

On the Candidates:
Republicans: John McCain, Mike Huckabee, Ron Paul
Democrats: Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton
Green Party: Ralph Nader

Other Links:
CNN Politics (They have a good breakdown of delegate counts and percentages on the front page)
Political News Daily
The Electoral College
Rock the Vote
Register to Vote (Also has some additional voter education links)

*If you're reading this and you have some additional links that can help people learn more about the voting process or the current candidates, please add them to the comments. Or just comment anyways.