A purposeful vote

There is an apparent lack of understanding in the editorial ``The New(t) Congress,'' Nov. 15, regarding voter turnout.

It is believed that those who don't vote are considered apathetic. Your redefinition of why people didn't vote was way off the mark. Saying that the 60 percent or so of those who chose not to vote voted for ``none of the above'' assumes too much.

When citizens choose not to vote, they are not only failing to exercise their obligations as such, but in essence voting for whoever wins (by not voting at all).

In all elections across the fruited plain there are sacrificial lambs, ballot holders, and a lot of other candidates who are on the ballot but haven't a prayer.

Did Andre Marrou have a chance in 1992? I don't think so, but the Libertarians still put him on the ballot so their votes wouldn't be wasted.

And for those who doubt that this election was anti-Democratic, perhaps saying it was anti-incumbent, just remember that not one sitting Republican - senator or congressman - was voted out. Bradford Beckett, Oxford, Ohio

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