Good morning John.

Here in the US it is 10 days away from our general election. It’s a big election, it’s an important election, and I would like to encourage everyone to vote right now. And if you’re on the fence about whether to vote, or if you know someone who is, I’m just going to give you 10 reasons why it’s great to vote right now. And if you can’t vote right now which in some states you have to wait until election day, then right now you need to make a plan for when and how you are going to vote on November 3rd. 

Number one, it tends to be quick and easy. Now long lines are a problem in some places, but 94% of Americans will be in and out in less than 30 minutes. Now that number should be 100%, and it’s a big deal that it isn’t. Reporting on long wait times is really important because we have to fix those problems. But hearing about long wait times discourages people from voting even in places where wait times are short.

Reason number 2 to vote. On every day of the year you are less powerful than Bill Gates. But not in this one way! You get the same number of votes as the richest people in America, and you get more votes than any of the organizations or corporations that we are always worrying about. And let me tell you, Jeff Bezos is voting. Like, you know that.

Number 3, your vote influences the lives of people beyond just you. Your neighbors, but also people all over the world. The United States is a very powerful country and we have a responsibility as citizens to engage with that power.

Number 4, we get really caught up in thinking about one election every four years. But there are tons of local elections that matter so much, from congress people all the way to mayors and city councillors and school board members. Now, you don’t have to vote on everything. Like if you don’t feel like you have a dog in the hunt, if you don’t feel educated on something, you can absolutely leave stuff blank. But I live in Montana where we have a democratic governor and we have a democratic senator and that would not happen if all the people who are like, “well Trump’s gonna win anyways” didn’t go to the polls.

Reason number 5, margins matter! Politicians know that they can get away with more extreme beliefs and actions if they won by like 20 percentage points versus if they won by five.

Reason number 6, the people who are calling you on the phone to tell you to vote right now actually get a list every day of the people who have already voted. And they will stop calling you. So that’s nice.

Reason number 7. The fact that any individual election that you vote in is unlikely to be decided by one vote should only discourage people who want to be the autocrat. Like, do you think you should be the deciding vote in everything? No! We are doing this together! That’s what democracy is.

Reason number 8, listen to this lady from Boston!
"I wanted to vote at Fenway because we’ve all been cooped up inside for a little bit, and I got my Dunkies, I’m ready to vote for Joe Biden but I wish I was voting for Bernie Sanders, but it’s a team sport."
It’s a team sport! Get your Dunkies in play!

Reason number 9, this election is a big deal. It will be and it should be interpreted as a judgement on the way that we’ve done things for the last 4 years and that’s internationally, that’s how we communicate with each other, that’s how we treat each other. We don’t just vote for people. We vote for a story. And what that story is, and what that means for this country, what it means for the future of the whole world, like that, it matters a lot. The story of a narrow win is very different from the story of a landslide.

Finally, reason number 10, the reason that you should vote right now if you can, or make a plan right now if you can, is if you don’t, you might not vote. This is just general procrastination advice and stuff that we know. If you want to do something, you just have to do it. You- don’t like wait for the perfect time. Or if you are, recognize that this is the perfect time. If the ballot is sitting on your kitchen table, or you’re not sure how you’re going to get yourself to the polls on November 3rd, make that plan now. Send that ballot now. And if you’re not sure how this works in your state, you can go to Youtube.com/howtovoteineverystate. Look up your state. The video is less than 2 minutes long. Watch it right now.

John, let’s do this! I’ll see you on Tuesday.