This goes out to all those Republican voters who were going to vote for Ted Cruz in the upcoming Presidential Primary, but are now thinking that, since Cruz suspended his campaign last week, your vote is meaningless. You’re discouraged, thinking there’s nothing we can do at this point to stop Donald Trump from getting the Republican nomination. And so you’re just going to let that ballot sit. Or maybe you’ve gone even farther and decided that you will have to hold your nose and vote for Trump.

No! Our votes still count!

I want to ensure you that this primary is not meaningless; that if Donald Trump does not represent your values (and he definitely does not represent mine), you can still make a statement to that effect by voting for Ted Cruz on the ballot, and with that statement you can wash your hands of his nomination. You can tell Donald Trump, the nation, and the world that you did not fall for his showmanship, that you respect women, that you do not agree with Trump’s characterizing Mexican immigrants as rapists, that you believe that the Constitution is still relevant, that you do not buy the idea that we can spend our way out of the National Debt, and-on-and-on-and-on.

It is vital to clarify that Cruz did not drop out of the race completely – he merely suspended his campaign. Meaning that he could get back in the race if he were to win more support in upcoming primaries. This has happened in the past: Ronald Reagan suspended his campaign at this point in 1976, then won the California primary and reentered the race. He almost defeated the incumbent Gerald Ford for the nomination and went on to win it in a landslide four years later. In this connection I want to point out that Trump does not have 1237 delegates yet. It’s a mathematical certainty that he will get there, but it hasn’t happened yet. Yes, it would take a miracle for momentum to change, but some of us still believe in miracles.

So vote for Ted, and pray for the nation, because “It’s not over till it’s over.”

Judah Finney

Friday Harbor