22 THE QUEENS COURIER • DECEMBER 9, 2021 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
editorial
Who’s throwing their vote away?
We had fun searching through the list
of write-in candidates that frustrated voters
Title: Brooklyn man gets 43 years behind bars for
shooting Woodside pharmacy employee in 2018
Summary: A Brooklyn man was sentenced to 43 years
in prison for his role in a 2018 crime spree in Queens,
including the shooting of a Woodside drug store
employee.
Reach: 13,371 (as of 12/6/2021)
penned onto their ballots in the Nov. 2
general election for New York City mayor.
Th e beautiful thing about our democracy
is that the power of the vote belongs to
us, and we can exercise that power however
we wish. If some of us don’t like the
slate of choices before us, we can always
write in one of our own — even though
we know it won’t impact the outcome of
the fi nal results.
Th e write-in list included legitimate
candidates who came up short and lost
in the primaries; other politicians known
across the country; celebrities like Kim
Kardashian and Lady Gaga; members of
the Yankees and Knicks; and also a few
fi ctional characters from Daff y Duck to
Jean Luc-Picard of “Star Trek: Th e Next
Generation.”
Some can call the practice of write-in
voting “throwing one’s vote away.” Maybe
so.
But as we see it, those who don’t bother
to vote at all are the real disposers of votes
— and far too many of our fellow New
Yorkers are throwing their own power in
the trash.
Consider that the Nov. 2 election —
which decided the direction of our city
government for the next four years — had
a dismal turnout of about 22% of all registered
voters in New York City.
It was nowhere close to the high turnout
and enthusiasm seen at the polls in 2020
for the presidential election. And again,
we’re left to ask why we New Yorkers only
seem to care about voting once in a fouryear
period when so much else is at stake
locally in the other three years?
How many times do people complain
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about the direction of city and state government?
Th e executives and legislators
who run government don’t pop into City
Hall and Albany out of thin air — they get
there because people vote for them!
And if people are dissatisfi ed with how
their government works, or want to continue
the direction it’s on, then it’s their
responsibility to cast their vote when the
executives and legislators are up for election.
Registered voters must remember that
they have the power to determine our destiny.
Th ey get the fi nal say on every politician’s
fate.
But if they don’t care enough to vote at
all, then they’re the ones who are throwing
their votes away.
Photo via Getty Images
Registered voters must remember that they have the power to determine our destiny.
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