Uninformed voting is irresponsible voting

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Issue: Organizations often stress the importance of voting but rarely the importance of responsible voting.

Every election cycle, groups and organizations orchestrate get-out-the-vote campaign, stressing the need to vote. Voting is a huge responsibility, and many of these groups urgently stress the utmost need to fulfill this civic duty.

If someone is uninformed, however, these groups are putting a loaded gun in their hand. Uninformed voting simply for the sake of voting is irresponsible. If you don’t know who you are voting for then do not vote.

People should take the time to educate themselves 8212; watch the news, read candidate websites, read newspapers and figure where they stand on issues. If someone does not know or does not care about the issues, then they should not participate.

There is no shame in responsibly exercising one’s right to not vote. In fact, coming to that realization is a mature decision 8212; much more mature than voting recklessly. The next mature step, however, should be realizing it’s important to educate oneself on the issues so one can responsibly vote.

Furthermore, if candidates on the ballot don’t reflect voters’ views, voters should not feel like they have to vote for someone for the sake of it. If there is no one that a voter truly agrees with, is it better to vote for a lesser evil, perhaps sacrificing some personal beliefs along the way, or to not vote at all? That’s something voters should consider before casting their ballots.

Stance: Irresponsible, uninformed and reckless voting is dangerous. Voters should do their research before going to the polls or not vote at all.