Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party activist Manilan Houle, of Minneapolis, is the first person waiting in line outside a polling station in downtown Minneapolis on Friday, Sept. 21, 2018, on the first day of early voting in Minnesota in the 2018 midterm elections. Minnesota law allowed in-person voting to begin Friday — a full 46 days early — making it the first battleground state to begin casting actual votes in the broader fight for control of Congress. (AP Photo/Steve Karnowski)

What’s the point? The polls and smart heads talk about a built-in House Democratic Majority and a Senate Republican Majority. As of the time of this writing, Donald Trump’s Twitter account is silent amid reports the White House has been spending time working with him to get him to accept the GOP will lose the House.

You may live in a deep red district and see no reason to vote because of course your person will win. Maybe you live in a deep blue district and see no hope. Maybe it’s a purple district, but you heard good or bad news about early voting turnout.

Or, maybe, you’re so pissed off about the state of politics you don’t see a point in participating in such a toxic process.

So, why even bother? Why go out of your way to take part in a broken process that is these days dominated by a left-leaning media, pollsters, and out-of-touch politicians?

The answer is simple: You do still matter.

Your voice actually does matter at the ballot box. It still means something. The fact of the matter is that you don’t really know what’s going to happen. The polls and news reports say what they say, but that does not guarantee results. Sure, Hillary Clinton won the popular vote in 2016 as predicted by the pollsters, but it was her choice of campaign stops that gave the election to Trump.

So, the polls can only tell you so much. The trends, even as impacted by what was mostly disastrous polling news for the GOP yesterday morning, can only express what was true yesterday. Today is a different day. I didn’t care this morning, then I saw a story about Nancy Pelosi preening about her upcoming majority, and that was what reminded me of the importance of voting today.

We all have our reasons. As I mentioned yesterday, vote for ideas, not for or against a person. Vote for what you believe to be the right ideology. But, most importantly, go vote.