Voters, do your jobs and make it count

Worcester County voters, in this end of the county at least, have the option of casting their ballots now instead of waiting until election day on Nov. 5.

Whether they take advantage of this opportunity, of course, depends on their willingness to travel from home or work to the Ocean City convention center, the county’s sole early voting site, to avoid waiting in line on the official day of decision, the first Tuesday in November.

Since early voting is supposedly all about convenience, the selection of Ocean City as the location best suited to serve the entire county is more than a little ironic. Still, a little inconvenience in voting hardly measures up to some of the real sacrifices people have made over time to gain the right to vote at all.

Whether it’s voting early or waiting until election day, this participation in the democratic process is the only thing all voting age Americans are invited to do on the country’s behalf. And yes, despite assertions that it doesn’t matter who people vote for as long as they vote, it does make a difference.

Many times, voters will throw away their votes by going with their own write-in candidates rather than choose between two contestants who are unappealing to them.

This accomplishes nothing, other than turn over the decision-making to everyone else. In a way, voting should be viewed as like showing up at a restaurant hoping to have dinner at a window seat but having to settle for the “best available” instead.

Many people in Worcester will find themselves in that situation starting today as they contemplate their choices. We encourage them to engage fully in this quadrennial exercise by not wasting their votes in contests where they have doubts or concerns, and instead go with the best available.

With the number of democracies around the world declining, it is incumbent upon all registered voters in this country to keep this one strong by voting and that means making those votes count.