Vote or shut up

Today is the final day to figure out if you’re going to be somebody allowed to complain for the next four years or if all the whining, venting and kitchen-table Monday (or is that Wednesday?) morning quarterbacking will be for naught.

While the outcome of today’s historic election is important — and yes, that may be the understatement of the year — also of significance is the simple act of casting a vote. The winners and losers may not be what you want but by voting you show you care, you show that you deserve to gripe when it all doesn’t work out. Those who sit back and figure their ballot doesn’t count or, even worse, don’t figure anything at all, had better not send the paper a letter, bend a neighbor’s ear or feel disgruntled by the world when they deliberately forfeited the right to choose.

Having the privilege of writing a column that falls on today is a rare opportunity for me to offer final pronouncements about which path the undecided should pick and which even those who are well-decided should reconsider. I can fill pages with arguments and explanations about how registered voters should react to questions about farm animals, high-speed rail, marriage, presidential candidates and alternative energy. And, of course, I would be right because I’m just that brilliant and all-knowing.

Or, am I?

As much as I’d like to think what I believe is the best choices for every other person in California and the United States, the truth is that it may not be. But that is the beauty of an election — we all have the equal chance to cast a vote and may the best candidates (and measures) win.

Read the voter pamphlet. Watch a Paris Hilton commercial. Peruse candidate and proposition Web sites. Check out Saturday Night Live sketches on YouTube. Pick up as many newspapers as possible. Talk to neighbors, friends, people in the coffee shop. By now, frankly, voters should ideally know where they stand on the questions at hand but with the polls not closing until 8 p.m. there is still time to figure at least some of the issues and participate in a civic privilege for which some people in other countries would die.

So rather than using this space to give a last-minute nudge for votes that match my list of recommendations, I instead will simply ask for turnout. Report after report trumpets impressive voter registration ranks in many states but nowhere as much as California where the numbers are estimated at 17.3 million. More people are registered to vote in the state than live in any other except Texas, New York or Florida, according to the statistics reported.

A number of California counties are predicting at least 80 percent turnout today, leading to concerns about backlog and problems at polling places. The real problem, though, will be if those anticipated voters don’t show up. Breaking registration figures is fine and good but it means nothing if that record doesn’t translate into an equal number of people casting actual votes.

If you don’t vote the worst thing won’t be having to shut up but — if a candidate or measure not of your liking succeeds — putting up.

Michelle Durand’s column "Off the Beat” runs every Tuesday and Thursday. She can be reached by e-mail: michelle@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 102. What do you think of this column? Send a letter to the editor: letters@smdailyjournal.com.