Making Sense of Democracy

Good morning, Sensemakers!

In less than 10 days, I voted three times. Twice for the president of Bulgaria, and once here in America.

This is not political commentary. I do not claim to understand political processes, what makes turnout high, or what keeps people at home.

But as a “wellness guy” (professionally biased), I want to run the right to vote through the Making Sense framework this newsletter is about.

They say politics is one of the most complex and tangled things there is. After an issue about aliens (Where Is Everybody?), why not open the Making Sense umbrella over politics and democracy?

But first…

That polling station has been organized and run for years with the full support and help of the Bulgarian Association of Cincinnati.

For quite a few elections now, it has become my tradition to vote last, and stay to help close the station. Because of the time difference with Bulgaria, I often already know how the general results are shaping up. And I still go and vote.

My friends who work at the polling station have a long day. Their job is to make sure every vote is cast properly and everything runs smoothly and calmly. At the end, we put things in order together. That is how a community works too. I wrote about why it matters in Who Will Pick Up When You Call?

Yesterday, standing in a long line of Americans waiting to cast their vote at our local school, I couldn’t help thinking about the right to vote, and about turnout in different elections.

I think about how many Bulgarians travel miles, for hours, just to drop a ballot in a box for a better life in a country across the ocean.

And I think about people in that same country who choose not to cross the street to vote, and let that right pass.

I am not judging, even though I am very disappointed. This issue is my attempt to make sense of it, and hopefully to help some of them choose to take the short walk and act when it counts.

We all love to share opinions, typed on a keyboard or spoken with passion at the dinner table. Those are real expressions of what we think.

But what happens to those opinions if we do not express them through our vote?

A folded ballot dropped into a box is different. It speaks where it can be heard, and acted upon.

Only once in a while, at a specific moment, do we get a chance to express our will in the one way this democratic system still recognizes.

I know there is a lot of dissatisfaction and despair out there. I understand it. And yes, every democratic way to express support or disagreement counts too.

But only when we cast a vote do we use our right to influence the direction the world is heading.

So I asked myself:

So what if you have an opinion, if in the one or few moments when you are given the right to express your vote, you don’t use it?

Let’s break this down with the three questions we use in every issue to make sense of things.

1. Why does this matter?

And a harder one: is there any election I am invited to vote in that does not matter to me?

As the So What issue showed, the question is neutral. One direction closes the door: “So what? Nothing changes. Next.” The other keeps us in the conversation: “So what? What can I do?”

I wrote about the gap between knowing and doing in Why Just Knowing Is Not Enough? It is why my book series is called “This Book Doesn’t Matter”: only applied knowledge has meaning.

Words are a draft. A vote is an action.

If you skip it, I understand. Distance, distrust, exhaustion, a feeling that nothing changes. Those reasons are real.

Sometimes despair is a good filter, one that protects our attention. Sometimes it is a closed door, one that protects our certainty.

2. Where am I?

If I can answer the first question, I will probably see my position clearly at once. How do I define myself in relation to this choice?

Bulgaria

In the first round on October 25, about 1.5 million of roughly 6.6 million eligible people voted, about 23%. No president was elected, because fewer than half took part.

In the runoff on November 1, turnout was 28.67%.

So what? About 4.7 million eligible people did not vote in the runoff.

I do not know their reasons. Whatever opinions they hold did not become votes.

The United States

In 2022, about 45% of eligible Americans voted in House races. So what? More than half stay home in a midterm.

What about health?

Just out of curiosity: did you know there is a 2026 Finnish study on voting and mortality?

Researchers followed about 3.2 million Finnish citizens aged 30 and over for 21 years. They linked voting records with who later died.

Non-voters had higher age adjusted mortality: 73% higher for men, 63% for women.

So what? It is a link, not proof that voting protects health.

But voting does something far more certain. It makes us participants. And as a participant, I have earned my voice to agree or disagree with what the people we elect are doing.

3. What can I do?

This is where “So what?” turns into “Now what?”

In The Secret Power of Your… Minimum I wrote about two prescriptions. The optimum is what I do when life allows. The minimum is what I refuse to lose when life doesn’t.

I think a vote is that floor for democracy: the minimum of our participation, the minimum of time. A few times a year, at most.

Not the target. The optimum is more: staying informed, talking with neighbors, helping locally.

You also vote every day

This is only my opinion, with no study behind it. With your health, you cast a small ballot every day. The meal you choose. The walk you take or skip. The hour you go to bed.

It works a lot like democracy. One vote rarely decides anything on its own. One meal rarely changes your health. But many small votes, cast again and again, set the direction.

Each one is a small vote for the person you are becoming.