by Brandon Burley and The Redemption Project
We talk about voting as expression.
And it is.
But it’s also something more structural than that.
A vote is the temporary transfer of authority
It’s one person saying:
I am trusting you to act within this role, under these limits, for this period of time.
That makes understanding the office just as important as liking the person.
Because the power doesn’t disappear after election day.
It continues.
That’s why I frame it this way in class:
A ballot is not applause. It is delegation of power.
Then I ask:
How often do voters fully understand the power they are handing over?