I have voted in every election beginning in 1964 — national, state, and local, general, primary, and special.

I would have voted in 1960, but 18-year-olds were not enfranchised.

That is a lot of voting.

The remaining ballots of my life, however, will be far more important than any I have cast.

The digital era has empowered demagogues and the willfully ignorant. The Guy on Barstool No. 7 grabs his phone and reaches more people than this newspaper — or the New York Times. Right-wing hucksters rule infotainment broadcasting.

As far as the eye can see, we will be voting in one-issue elections. That issue is survival of democracy.

I urge you to withhold your precious vote from any candidate who refuses to renounce The Big Lie about the 2020 election (and about future elections), or who believes cat litter is a campaign issue.

I believe both parties are seriously flawed, and I belong to neither. One of them, though, is making this an easy choice.

THOMAS W. FERGUSON,

Alpena