Voting forces you to take a stand. All the arguments, no matter how nuanced, come down to a Yes or a No. You can’t pick Yes with certain exceptions or No with personal provisos. You can’t vote for one candidate with a little of another candidate thrown in. You have to make your choices and live with them. Voting also forces you to trust the political process, even when it seems that the issue at hand does not have a political solution. You cast your ballot and hope that most of your fellow voters think as you do. If they don’t, then you hope things will work out anyway, since you’re in the minority.

In a sense, every vote cast, regardless of the candidate or the issue, is a vote against violence. The act of voting says, “Change can occur without bloodshed.”