I get a lot of e-mails.

I get e-mails for Borders (I like books, so this is okay). I get e-mails from Viagra.com (for some reason or the other). And I get a lot of political e-mails.

I look at the latter and delete a lot after reading. But one I got the other day really caught my attention.

First off, I have to say that I have been very conscientious about voting. I have voted, or at least tried to, since I was eligible in 1972. Sometimes my candidate won, sometimes not, but I felt that this is one of the few ways my voice will be heard. So I was surprised when I got an e-mail titled "Doug, you're in this video."

The text read: "Dear Doug,

Oversleeping. Getting the car fixed. Having to pick up the second-cousin's stepkids on the other side of town. These are just a few of the reasons millions of Americans won't vote on November 4th.

It's not like they hate voting. They want to do it. They know they should. And mostly, they intend to. But some of your friends won't get around to actually voting because they haven't been reminded vividly enough.

That's why we developed this funny, scary video. It shows people what it might look like if we lose the election by a single vote: theirs.

Here's a version we prepared for you. You're in it-seriously, you, Doug. Check it out-and if you like it, send it to your friends."

And it had a picture of a still video captioned "Marcianne Walsh...Disappointed in Rule."

"What?" I thought to myself and went to the hyperlink http://www.moveon.org/r?r=31274&nid=9vdZIrpghfTN6LU4kg_zfjI0NzcwMzI-&id=14591-10328254-pxEz.0x&t=3

The video was hysterical, no matter what side of the political fence you are on. Someone much cleverer than I at MoveOn.org has fashioned a video that can be personalized, making you the Superstar of a "Swing Vote" type of incident.

Politics aside for a moment. Voting is important. Growing up, it was never discussed in my house, except that my mom never registered or voted. Her excuse was that she didn't want to be called for jury duty for a murder case (I have gone to jury duty and it was far from a murder case-tsk, tsk mom). So watch the video and think about it. If you are for Obama or McCain, vote. I would rather my candidates lose with 100 percent of the electorate voting than lose with 10 percent of the voters showing up. It is so important to be out there letting your voice be heard rather than someone else's.

I will be an election judge again this year at precinct 184 (that is a whole other story), so I am voting early. My daughter, who is 16, will be a paper ballot student judge in Falcon. I hope that we will see you there at the polls. And may the best candidate win.