Have I lost my right to vote?

I still haven’t decided who to vote for in the presidential primary next week. Oh wait …

it doesn’t matter…

because nobody’s on the ballot anyway.

Yep, that’s right. Only one of the major candidates is on the ballot.

No problem, I’ll just write in whoever I want.

What!? I can’t do that either? What do you mean, the candidates didn’t authorize themselves to be counted as write-in candidates? You have got to be kidding me!

So you’re telling me there is no way to vote for the candidate I pick?

What!? Even if I do vote, it won’t count anyway because we get no delegates at the national convention!?

Is that constitutional?

It’s already been to court and the primary stands. What’s a voter to do!?

I know this is nothing compared to the election fraud in Kenya, but I am still really frustrated about how the Michigan primary election is turning out. Because Michigan decided to hold its primary elections early, the democratic party has boycotted the primary and says that MI will lose all its delegates at the national convention. Only one major democratic candidate is on the ballot and none are campaigning here. For the republicans, all the candidates are on the ballot and a couple are campaigning, but they still lose half their delegates. I understand the concept of breaking the rules and getting the consequence. But it wasn’t the voters who decided to move the primary up, and we are the ones being marginalized. For a country with such low voter turnout anyway, what good does it do to alienate so many voters.

When they first started talking about it, I thought it wasn’t such a great idea, but that it probably wouldn’t be that big a deal, because everyone said that no one would really deny Michigan and Florida’s delegates. So I figured I’d just vote for whoever I want and assume it would all work out. But that’s not really an option anymore. So once I make up my mind who I want, I can either vote for the one candidate on the ballot or vote for an “uncommitted” delegate who can go to the convention and vote for whomever he or she wants. Not sure what I’m gonna do yet. Gotta love this American democracy.

If you live in Michigan (or Florida), do not give up. PLEASE GO VOTE on Tuesday. Prove that we as voters refuse to be marginalized.