You may have noticed the little blurb on your dashboard from WP, informing you that they have joined with other organizations in helping to get out the vote. Yeah, midterms are coming up and I agree, exercising your right to vote is a very special privilege afforded us. And if you don’t vote then you don’t have a right to complain, right?
But is it just me, or is this a little creepy? There is certainly no lack of political websites, groups, PACS, non-profits, etc all screeching from the rooftops about voting and offering tools and assistance should you need it. And my email inbox is stuffed with ceaseless pleas for donations, advice on how to vote on the candidates, propositions, bills and issues. Facebook is flooded with encouragement. The whole web is screaming from every quarter about it. Television ads, radio ads, mail ads, magazine ads, chats around the company water cooler – it’s everywhere. So, do I really need to see it on my blog dashboard too?
I don’t want to get into a political discussion, per se. And especially don’t want to argue ideologies or political beliefs. But let’s just say I’m politically aware enough to know who the players are and feel a little manipulated by this little stunt. I mean, sure voting tools are cool but do I really want to end up on yet another political group’s mailing list? From which I will never be able to unsubscribe? Only to learn that my email address has now been given or sold to 27 other political mailing lists to which I will never be able to unsubscribe? No, I don’t.
And truth be told, every state in America has a Secretary of State website that provides all the election information and tools you need. So do we really need more places to get information that we can already get from everywhere?
Don’t get me wrong. I love WordPress. They have a great blogging platform, their software and plugins rock, they are simply king when it comes to blogging in my opinion. But is it too much to ask that they leave me alone about voting? Seriously guys, I’ve got it covered. And I get mail from every political party known to man, even though I have no idea how these people got my email address. So could we just stick to blogging? That’s all I’m saying.
What do you think? Yay or nay? Good or bad? Help or not helpful?
Writer Chick
copyright 2014
Anita Rodgers Mystery Writer 
They were kind of in-your-face about it, weren’t they? I just grabbed their “I voted” badge, reduced it to a decent size, and used it, since I was already looking for one anyway. But I ignored all their other stuff.
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I know – a little weird, right? Crap, I haven’t even looked at the voting literature yet. I always wait until the weekend before the vote. Never rely on the commercials or ads. Still, blogging and voting tools – too weird for me. 🙂
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