In my September blog post about the midterms, I wrote that I didn’t think much would happen this cycle. Boy was I wrong—and I’m glad.

Election night is an interesting study in human geography. People and places and meet politics and prosperity all in the name of progress. It has been an interesting midterm election. About half of American voters didn’t show up, BUT those who did, brought their A game. I realize that who won and who lost is ultimately the most important part of the night, but it’s the analysis part of the voting that is interesting to me. Who went red, who went blue, who flipped, who stayed, was there any purple this time? How many new voters? Women voters? Early voters? It’s all interesting to me.

When the next generation stands up there on election night monitoring the turn out and the exit polls and the returns, I wonder how often they will say, “Remember the midterms from 2026?” Will it be, “that was a blip” or will it be “that was a watershed night”? Only time will tell.

Side note, voter turn out in the 2026 midterm election was 49.42%.

University of Florida Election Lab. (2026). 2026 General Election Turnout.; Michael P. McDonald. (November 4, 2026). Preliminary 2026 Turnout Rate.

To our newest and returning politicians: it’s time to put the red or blue signs in the garage and pull out your American flag. Let’s figure some stuff out while we’re running high on the results. We have a two-party, first past the post, winner take all election system in this country. However, once you win, you work for all Americans. For our national congressional winners this includes:

• the 35-49% of voters who didn’t vote for you
• the roughly 50% of eligible voters who didn’t vote at all
• Citizens who were legally ineligible to vote for whatever reason
• and approximately 70 million American children* *U.S. Census Bureau. Vintage 2025 Population Estimates

Get to work. Good luck!

Back to voter turnout, briefly. Voting is so important. A vote is still a vote, whether it’s a protest vote, a “throw away” vote, a party line vote, or a write-in vote. A blue dot in a sea of red, or a red dot in a sea of blue still counts. Even a white dot in a sea of purple counts! Your vote is your voice. It is the one time that your opinion counts equally with every other opinion in this country. If you don’t vote, you don’t get a voice in making change.

My hope for 2028 is for voter turnout to push above 50%. Wouldn’t that be something? If over half of America cared about all of America? I am astounded that less than half of eligible voters vote and we act like everyone voted. Isn’t this what we should be worried about? Is it apathy? Is it access? Is it understanding? We talk and talk and talk and talk about power in the hands of the few. But when half your voters don’t even show up, they are willingly handing the power to the hands of the few. Admittedly, I want a reasonably well informed, literate person filling in the circle, or pushing the button, or pulling the lever. My opinion on this want is an education blog for another day…

There are 733 days until the next general election. Help your neighbor register. Remind your 18 year old to register. Take your kid to the polls next time.

Love y’all and U.S. so big,

Marla