2022 is almost upon us, and if the politicians crawling out of the woodwork, just scrounging for airtime as much as they could is any indication, election season is upon us as well.
As of this writing, there are 60 million registered Filipino voters, more than half of the country’s population. But if you’re reading this, of legal voting age, and not one of those 60 million, your vote still matters. But what’s the holdup? With registration open once more, why aren’t you lining up right now? We at 8List have a few ideas why not, and a few rebuttals to those ideas.
8. Ummm, COVID-19?
Obviously, there’s a pandemic, and registering in the middle of one is a health risk. We get that.
Then again, did you really need that haircut the other day? We all take risks in our daily lives, and we all (hopefully) take the precautions we need when taking these risks. Choosing the next key leaders who will run our country for the foreseeable future is something worth taking some risk for.
Look, we’re not saying you go out there and get COVID. Wear a mask. Socially distance. Stay healthy. That’s your civic duty. But so is voting.
7. But they’re all the same!
No, they’re not. I think we’ve established that by now, after having a pool of very flawed choices last 2016. If you don’t quite understand this, we hope you have fun dealing with the same kind of leadership year in and year out.
6. I don’t know enough about them!
If you can spend the time getting to know who the next Darna is, you can spend the time getting to know who the next potential presidents are. C’mon.
5. But nobody matches my values!
Well, who does, entirely? The thing that people forget is that voting is rarely ever a single-issue decision. It’s all about finding the candidate who best fits you. Did you ever have the perfect boyfriend or girlfriend? Of course not. Well, neither is the perfect candidate out there for you. We have to make imperfect choices for an imperfect government to run imperfectly, but that’s better than deliberately letting the horrible ones win just because.
4. They’ll just cheat me out of my vote.
So you mean to tell us that you got registered, fell in line to vote, and then left it at that?
Guess what? That’s just the beginning! Guarding your vote, holding your elected leaders accountable, that’s still part of the process. It’s not a one-and-done affair.
3. It doesn’t affect me whoever’s there.
It actually does. The thing is, if you ever spent the time discussing the headlines and complaining about the antics of whoever’s in charge, you would know that they’re affecting you one way or another.
Wouldn’t you want to have someone out there affecting you in a positive way?
2. It’s such a hassle.
Yes, it is. You know what’s a bigger hassle? Six years with a terrible leader. From you feeling your taxes are such a burden because they seem to just end up in pockets, to you being inconvenienced by each and every little thing a bad leader inevitably screws up, it’s all a hassle.
Voting may be a hassle, but it’s just one day. A bad leader can affect the next six years – or even the rest of our lives.
1. It makes no difference.
Have you seen what electing bad leaders do to this country? It makes one heck of a difference.
Now, how about if we make a difference in the opposite direction? How about we make a positive one?
Will we find the perfect leader who will solve everything? Of course not. But when we have an educated voting populace, what we definitely have are people who will elect who they think is best after careful consideration, not just what their gut tells them.
And that makes a world of difference.
You can still register as a voter for the 2022 Elections. For more information, visit YOUthDECIDE.
