I’m getting ready to pack up my laptop and head home to do something I consider more fun than going to Disneyland.
I’m going to do what people in my line of work spend a lot of time urging other people to do.
I’m going to do what I’ve been doing almost religiously since I hit the age of 18—that is, something I’ve been doing a long time.
I’m going to do something that’s easy to take for granted.
I’m going to vote.
But before I do, I’m writing now to ask you to do the same thing.
There’s nothing more important that any Californian can do, with so little effort, to demonstrate a commitment to our state and the environment.
Just vote.
This primary election is important.
For the first time in 24 years, one of our two U.S. Senate seats has no incumbent running. More than 30 candidates have filed for that seat, but only two will go on to the general election. Every vote is going to matter in this race. And it matters for the environment.
In a lot of state legislative races around California, the oil and gas industry is pouring money into races to try to keep strong proponents of clean energy and a clean environment out of office. Every vote matters in every legislative race to keep California on track to cut air pollution and our dependence on polluting fuels.
My mailbox at home is filled daily with slick ads about candidates. If my phone rings in the evening, there’s a good chance that the person at the other end is calling to ask me to vote for a certain candidate or to send money to a political committee.
After so many weeks of being barraged by political ads, attacks and counterattacks, the urge to just turn this stuff off, to ignore the election, is strong.
Fight the urge.
Instead, just vote.
If you haven’t registered to vote, the Secretary of State’s website has information about how to do that. You can also find information at there about how to vote by mail or where to find your polling place if you still want to vote in person on primary day, June 7.
Sierra Club volunteer leaders around the state have put hundreds of hours into reviewing candidate questionnaires and interviewing candidates about their positions on the environment to identify who to endorse for races up and down the ballot.
You can see the results of that work for the state legislature and beyond on Sierra Club California’s website.
We try to help make it easy, because it’s so important.
So now it’s your turn. Just vote.
Sincerely,
Kathryn Phillips
Director
Sierra Club California is the Sacramento-based legislative and regulatory advocacy arm of the 13 California chapters of the Sierra Club.
Please consider becoming a sustaining donor.
