A Reminder To Vote

It's almost Election Day. Depending on where you live and what elections are up in your city or state will determine how much attention you are paying. Here's my advice. Get yourself up to speed and remember to vote. It counts. Really.

If you don't believe me, I will share a little story from one of my favorite shows, Dancing with the Stars. It falls into the reality category when up for awards, but really it is about competition. It is about learning to dance, ballroom style. Based upon how good you are, the judges score you as well as the viewers. Not everyone agrees, which is part of the fun. But as the weeks wear on, in theory, the winner should be the best dancer.

This particular season I did not know, nor was I intrigued with the celebrity choices. But I love dancing and I love to watch and see who continues to improve and who is just never going to get it. If you have ever danced, there are always one or two, who right out of the gate, you know are going to still be there in the finals.

Unless of course, something happens. And people vote not for who is the best, but who is their favorite because they like the way they play football, or they like how pretty or hot they are they are, or they like their professional dancing partner so much, they forget who they are supposed to be judging. Or the people at home, just forget to vote, because they think their voice doesn't really matter.

Something like this happened last week. Which is the only explanation while Natalie Couglin whose partner was Alec Mazo was voted off.

I wasn't familiar with Natalie when the season started, mostly because I don't follow the Olympics or swimming that closely. Natalie is the most decorated female swimmer in World Championship history, holding sixteen medals. She was also the most decorated female in both the 2008 Beijing Games and the 2004 Athens Games. And oh, by the way, she can dance. Really dance. Extremely well. But we won't get to see her anymore. Not after Week 5.

I don't know how it happened. Neither did the judges. They feel the same as I do. I'll take some of the responsibility. I forgot to vote. I usually vote, but I was too tired after the show to sign on. I thought it was pretty clear that there were several choices of dancers that should be voted off. That it would be one of those three. I thought my vote wouldn't make a difference. It wouldn't count that much. I was wrong.

I should know better. It won't happen again. I'll vote tonight and I'll vote on Election Day. Both votes will be cast on who is the best choice, the most qualified and who deserves to win. My vote counts and yours does too!