Mamas Cold Coffee

Early Voting starts today!! Oct 22 && 23!! November 6th is official voting day! I will admit, I was definitely one of those that didn’t understand or really care about local elections! I didn’t think it made that big of a difference, it’s not the president or anything, it doesn’t impact me! You know that stuck in my own little bubble mentality! BUT I AM WRONG!! That is the worst attitude to have about elections, ESPECIALLY local elections!! I met a friend that was running for a local city council position and I became veryyy interested in all of this!! I started looking up information about our local politicians and I realized how little information and interest there is out there on this!! So why am I writing about it?? Because!!! I couldn’t find much at all!! Now that I’ve learned more about our local elections, I realize how important it is for everyone to care and get involved!!

According to FairVote, only about 40% of eligible voters actually turn up to vote in midterm elections!

So why should you get out and vote in your local elections? The Textbook Answer: Because it’s our Right! People fought hard to give us the Right to vote!

BUUTTT!!!

It’s not just a right, it’s a privilege!! Not everyone in the world gets to vote, take advantage of being able to!! Of being able to have your own opinions and make choices! The direction of this country is determined by our choices.

Your vote counts more in local elections than in national elections! Local politicians win by just a few votes!! Your vote could put someone ahead by just that one vote! Local elections also affect your daily life! Depending who you vote in for the Court of Appeals and Justice of Peace affects our courts locally. They make sure that our court system is fair! They work with the youth in the juvenile system and determine what direction their lives will go and that they get a fair trail.

Local politicians do it to serve their community! They don’t make a lot of money! It’s mainly volunteer time! They have other full time jobs! They go under public scrutiny, people searching for things in their pasts to put them down, just for wanting to serve their community. It’s takes a dedicated person to volunteer and spend thousands of their own money to campaign. They don’t make in a year in office what it costs to run, what it costs to campaign, put signs up, run ads. It’s not to be in powerful positions, the mayor and the city council’s votes weigh the same! These people want to help represent the city! So it’s the least we can do for our community!

What we do here at home sends a message up to the National Level Government! Perfect example: Hurricane Harvey hit our area a year ago, families are still working hard to rebuild their homes and businesses! We have lost millions of dollars in revenue for our area because of the losses! State Government recently put out there that they want to increase Wind Storm Taxes. Our local politicians have been fighting it like crazy! They are HERE! They see the damage! They know we are still struggling!! They are living in this community themselves!! They know what we need!! They fought and got the Wind Storm Tax increase stopped!! They travel to Washington DC to fight for what we actually need here at home!!

Not to be harsh, but as the saying goes, If you don’t vote, you don’t have a right to complain! I don’t know how many times I’ve complained about a pot hole, about our city not having this or that! But I didn’t talk to anyone in our local government! I didn’t vote. I didn’t have a voice! That’s changing now though!!

You can have more of a voice locally!! You can express what you believe in! What you want out of your home town! How your tax dollars are spent. Is your focus on infrastructure? Wanting more parks? On economic development? Local Elections are the perfect time to research the candidates and find the ones who want the same things as you, the perfect one to represent your voice and your wishes for your home town!!

Remember there is never going to be an allll perfect choice! It’s about adding up what you do stand for and choosing the person that follows your beliefs the most! While we may believe in someone more than another candidate, my biggest push out of this too is: RESPECT!!! We need to be respectful of people’s choices and their educated decisions! Everyone has gone through something to make them feel strongly towards a subject one way or another! I am so tired of seeing the petty, nasty, small/closed minded comments on social media towards someone who supports a different candidate than someone else does. You can disagree with someone and still be respectful and mature!! That’s all I’m going to say about that!!

I encourage you to get out and vote! To get out and be involved! To let your voice be heard!! Things can’t change, they can’t get better, if you don’t get out and vote for who you believe in to represent you and your community!!

If you get out and vote, I’d love to see your I VOTED sticker photos!! Tag me on Social Media!!!

Until next time,

**Disclaimer on the photo of my daughter in a political shirt. I am not 100% vocal about my political stances because of my position. However, any political views shared are my own and do not represent any company we work with on Mama’s Cold Coffee. The position that is represented on her shirt is a non partisan position. I do support him, he is a family friend, not being paid to post on Mama’s Cold Coffee. I am and will raise my daughter to have a voice! To be involved! To make her own decisions as she grows older and becomes more educated! I’m beating anyone to making comments about it! Like mentioned before, I do not stand for small minded comments to be made on subjects!**