Floridians: Vote on January 29th! Or else! :-P

Florida Democrats: Your Primary Vote Matters (DailyKos version)

Florida Democrats: Your Primary Vote Matters (Florida Netroots version, for those afraid to visit the Great Orange Satan's(tm) website)

I'd been planning to write a detailed post about how important it is for everyone, but especially Democrats, to vote in the Presidential Preference Primary on Jan. 29. But now I don't have to, because meowmissy of DailyKos (a.k.a. Jennifer at Florida Netroots) has provided a far better piece about it than I ever could. See, procrastination has its merits. ;-)

Forget all that garbage you've been hearing about your vote "not counting." It does and it will, as meowmissy explains in detail. Feel free to forward either my post or hers to every registered voter in Florida you know, particularly Dems. There is far too much confusion and misunderstanding with respect to Florida moving its primary date to 1/29 against the wishes of the national Democratic Party, and we need to do everything we can to get the facts - and the voters - out there.

In addition, there are other items on the Jan. 29 ballot that must be voted on, the most important of which is the property tax reform amendment. I'm voting against this because our municipalities are already operating on a shoestring and have practically no tax revenue to invest in public works projects and services. My own city, South Daytona, was forced to cancel a sorely needed road improvement project (and, in doing so, also lost a substantial matching grant from the Florida DOT) due to the last round of cuts over the summer. Even if you don't own property and therefore don't need to pay such taxes, they still benefit you because that revenue is necessary to keeping your communities running. ***In the interest of full disclosure,*** I did receive a whopping $119.35 decrease in my tax bill from the last round of cuts, with which I can buy like 2.5 tanks of gas - for now, at least - or cover my monthly Netflix bill. Whoopee. (In case you can't tell, I'm being sarcastic.) See why the Florida League of Cities opposes this amendment as well.

The Florida Division of Elections will help you find early voting dates and sites, contact your local elections supervisor, see what's on the ballot regarding statewide issues, etc. Your own municipality may have additional items on which to vote, so just search Google for your city's web page or your county's Supervisor of Elections for that information. Early voting begins statewide this Monday, Jan. 14, and I strongly encourage you to take advantage of it if you can. The Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary have both had record turnouts, especially among Democratic voters, so don't run the risk of having to wait hours in line when you can take care of it early.

Remember, too, that Florida has a close primary system, which means only Democrats and Republicans can vote for their presidential candidate preference, and only within their own party. However, all registered voters, regardless of party affiliation, can and should vote for the other issues on the ballot.

If you have other election information needs, post them in comments and I'll do my best to find the answer. :-)

SO, LIKE, GO VOTE AND STUFF! LOLZ!!1!!111!