Anyone who knows that both President Biden and former President Trump have already won enough delegates to clinch their parties nominations may be wondering about Connecticut’s upcoming (April 2nd) Presidential Preference Primary, “why should I vote in an election where the winner has already been decided?” It’s a great question!

Frankly, there are lots of reasons within the delegate-apportionment process that will bore you to tears (but prove irresistible to politicians). Yet there are also plenty of reasons to participate that may resonate stronger with typical voters than procedural technicalities.

Demonstrating active civic engagement to my 5-year-old daughter and 3-year-old son is my primary motive for voting next week. It also gets us into the school where my daughter will soon start kindergarten. Anything that gets her excited about soon starting kindergarten is a big deal right now.

Voting also provides us an opportunity to thank the poll workers who are essential to our democracy’s health. 

These (often older) women and men put in very long days working an ever-changing landscape that can go from sleepy-corner to pressure-cooker in the blink of an eye depending how the numbers fall on election night, usually 15 or more hours after their workday starts.

I volunteered as a poll worker on my 18th birthday and relished the thrill of going from the back of the table to the front to cast my first ballot. Nearly everyone I voted for lost, but that’s okay – sometimes that’s just how it goes.

Twelve years later I woke up to every news station in the state scrolling my name across the bottom of their screen as a loser, which was a unique way to spend my 30th birthday. But that was okay too. I hadn’t expected to beat my well-entrenched State Representative, I just knew it was important that we have a choice.

And we do, technically, have a choice on Tuesday with four (different) candidates and an uncommitted option appearing on each ballot.

Voting is so many things to so many different people. It is at times a ritual, a rite of passage, a hard-fought privilege, a weapon, or a shield, and it is always essential to our being a free and self-governing people.

This particular election is tricky in that it’s only open to registered Republicans or Democrats because we’re a closed-primary state. But it’s also the first time we’re implementing early voting and therefore a good time to turn out and help calibrate the system.

Closed primaries are just one of the many quirks in Connecticut’s beautiful, tortured, and long history of voting rights changes.

The issue was decided by the United States Supreme Court back in the 1980s, which introduces the next reason to vote in our closed-party primaries: they’re so retro they’re cool.

Put on your best ‘80s outfit and get to those polls! 

The right to vote’s scope, reach, and value are in constant flux with ever-changing legislation and innumerable court challenges. Partisans approach ballot access more like Gollum’s golden ring than mother’s golden rule because voting is so incredibly precious and vital to who we are as a people.

Lest I come across as overzealous, I’ll note that the choice not to vote is a personal one and that there are many respectable reasons not to participate.

My dad never voted again after Lyndon Johnson’s campaign promise not to expand American involvement in Vietnam ended up expanding to involve him. I understand principled opposition like that.

But for those who would vote in this primary only if they thought it’d make a difference – believe me, it will – in so many tiny little ways that don’t seem small at all to the tiniest eyes that are watching what we do (and looking for a snack).

Finally, demonstrating good citizenship is the best way to fight against cynicism in our public life. 

Prove that you’re a die-hard fan of democracy by showing up. In a world full of people taking destination vacations to watch spring training baseball, let’s at least cast a minor league stadium’s attendance worth of votes for our foregone candidates. Do it for the love of the game.

I hope I’ll see you out there Tuesday in the sunshine, rain, or snow. If I do, you’ll get a high-five from a three-year-old and maybe a sticker too (that’s why he most wants to go and maybe even reason enough for you).