Twenty-sixteen was the first year that I was old enough to vote in a US presidential election, and I didn’t vote. I was living at college an hour away from home and my polling location. I hadn’t paid close enough attention to the deadline to request an absentee ballot, and I don’t think I even checked to be sure I was still registered. (I believe I was registered as a Republican at the time because I thought I was supposed to be, not like I knew what that meant.) Like many people, I didn’t like either of the candidates. I didn’t have much motivation to choose, and I didn’t understand why voting third party is ineffective.
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