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Why vote? What difference does it make? Excellent questions! Let's talk! My neighbor had some excellent answers, which I've even used as a sort of script in real life conversations! Highly Recommend! Nancy: A vote of dissent matters! Narration: She told me about an interaction she'd had with a cashier, after a brief discussion about credit cards, banks, & bitcoin. Store Clerk: I just don't trust anything anymore. Nancy: You're going to vote right?* Clerk: Um, I don't know. ... *A good conversation starter! Another, instates with early voting: 'Have you voted yet?' Nancy: Look… I know I don't know you, or what's important to you, but if you don't like how things are, you have to vote. You have to vote against. Nancy: I know it's hard to get excited about anyone or anything right now -- I get it. Believe me, I get it. But a vote against something is a powerful and important vote. Nancy: I've lived through a lot of elections, and I've voted in every one, and I'll tell ya--only once have I had the opportunity to vote for someone who really made my heart sing. Once. Nancy: My niece says the world is a mess and feels like she can't do anything about it-- Neice: sometimes it's like, why try? Nancy: but she's voting anyway because she knows she has the good fortune to live in a democracy, and when something is not okay, she has the right--the responsibility--to stand up and be counted. Nancy: In countries like China, Russia, North Korea, people who speak out against the party line get thrown in prison. Or killed. The way we protect our right to speak out is by voting. A vote of dissent matters. Nancy: For the sake of whatever it is you care about -- Please. Vote against. No thank you, I don't need a bag. Please vote. Ellen: So, do you think they're going to vote? Nancy: Who the bleep knows? But I got the feeling they might. Narration: I had the chance to say a lot of that almost verbatim, in a short conversation just a few days later. Cashier: My friends tell me I should vote, but I'm just like, why? Ellen: You're going to vote though, right? Cashier: Oh, I don't know. Ellen: mmm... Look, I know I don't know you, etc. Narration: Have these conversations. Ask your barista, neighbor, friends, classmates, scuba diving buddy... because really-- We all just need to bleeping vote!