Okay, buckle your seat belt and be sure your Xanax prescription is refilled. The election is 4 weeks from today! More accurately, Election Day is 4 weeks from today, but voting has already started. With early voting, absentee voting, and now mail-in voting, millions of votes will be cast prior to November 3. Mail-in voting is the new soup du jour, and has spawned vitriolic heat, but little light, on both sides of the aisle. Who would have thought the major political parties would “go postal” over the post office?

A representative sample of concerns goes like this: will my ballot arrive properly?; if my ballot is received, will it be counted?; what happens to ballots, signed or even unsigned, received after November 3?; as we continue to search for Jimmy Hoffa, will we turn up thousands of votes when holes are dug, rivers are dredged, and dumpsters are emptied? You get the picture. To be sure, there is the potential for shenanigans, as historically some odd things have happened on the journey from post offices to election boards. Sometimes, someone votes more than once. Occasionally, non-citizens vote. Somehow, some ballots take a detour. Even the deceased have found a way to cast votes. I heard about a gentleman in New York who joked, “I want to be buried in the Hudson Valley so I can remain active in politics!” Perhaps, he had it right–that the best we can all do is maintain a sense of humor as we slog through the end of the election season.

In North Carolina, statewide ballots are not distributed unsolicited–one still has to request an old-fashioned absentee ballot by October 27. Early voting starts October 15, when voters can go to one of any number of locations to cast their votes (regrettably, it may be the only reason people now visit the public library). Your state likely has its own rules. This year, however, activist state Supreme Courts, state boards of elections, and the agencies of political parties from Georgia to Wisconsin are capriciously overriding state laws. Some states will now allow ballots postmarked by November 3 to be counted, even if received anywhere from 3 to 10 days later, and some will count unsigned mail-in ballots and those not bearing a postmark. It seems disingenuous that the same folks who argue that the postal system can handle this deluge of mail also argue that it may take up to 10 days for ballots to get to their proper destinations. Barring a return to the Pony Express, the postal service should not need such leeway. I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but a lot of it fails to pass the “sniff” test.

Here’s the more important point. With all the concern over the validity of the process, and the distinct possibility we won’t know who wins the presidency until sometime after November 3, does it really matter if I, or you, vote? Yes; a thousand times, yes! Why? Because men and women have fought and died to preserve our democratic republic. Because the slaves emancipated in 1865 did not consider themselves to be truly free until they were also granted the right to vote. Because, incredibly, there are still a few women alive who were born before women were granted the right to vote. We dishonor the sacrifices made and the legal battles fought by all of these Americans when we take our voting privilege lightly.

Although the least contentious scenario would be for one candidate to have a decisive lead at midnight November 3, we are pretty much an evenly divided country politically, and it’s quite possible that the voting will be close to 50:50. If no clear-cut winner of the presidency can be declared by the Electoral College, the election will ultimately go to the U.S. House of Representatives. Democrats, before you begin cheering that scenario, realize that each state gets one vote, and there are more Republican majority states than Democrat majority states. Republicans, before licking your chops, remember that Speaker Pelosi will still be in charge. While she may not be your favorite flavor of ice cream, give her credit for being a shrewd politician.

Needless to say, EVERY vote matters. No matter your preference for candidates, please vote. If, by the time you read this, you haven’t yet voted, please consider casting your ballot in person on Election Day. It is the best way to ensure your vote is counted, and it will make the possibility of electoral mischief less likely. Gathering as a community at our respective precincts is a patriotic effort. If you have young children, take them with you and expose them to the glorious process. Even if the polls are busy, you’ll likely be in and out in the time it takes to stream an episode of your favorite Netflix series. If you’re inclined to stay at home and vote remotely, consider this: unless you have a prohibitive health condition, you can take the same precautions you take to go to the grocery store or Home Depot and vote in-person safely, right?

Optimistically speaking, wouldn’t it be wonderful to have a national day of celebration on Election Day, with most of us displaying our commitment to the democratic process? The sanctity of the election may very well depend on it.