Sondra Shapiro has more than 40 years of experience in mature-market publishing. She is the former executive editor of the award-winning 50+ Advocate Newspaper in Massachusetts. She lives in Ogunquit. 

When you walk into the voting booth, what kind of future are you voting for?

Ask yourself: What do I want for my own life, and for the lives of the people I care about?

I don’t have children or grandchildren of my own, but most of my friends do. Watching them babysit, spend time with their families and talk endlessly about the people they love, their devotion is unmistakable. Because I love my friends, I want the exact same things for them that they want for their families: happiness, security and a better tomorrow. 

But this question is not only about parents or grandparents. It is about every Mainer. It is about the young adult trying to build a life here, the working family trying to keep up with rising costs, the older neighbor relying on Social Security or Medicare and anyone who wants to feel secure in the place they call home.

So when I enter the voting booth, I try to think beyond the candidate or the party. I think about the country and the state we are creating.

Right now we are watching the boundaries of executive power being tested in Washington. We have seen the federal government attempt to exert control over aspects of how states conduct elections, including voting by mail. Maine fought back, joining a coalition of states to challenge those rules in court; a legal battle that culminated in the U.S. Supreme Court upholding our voting rights. Our state also successfully blocked a federal lawsuit attempting to force the release of Mainers’ private voter data.

Is that federal overreach the direction we want our country to take?

If so, we should be honest with ourselves about it. If not, we need to think seriously about the importance of checks and balances. No president should have unchecked power. The protections built into our system are there precisely because power changes hands.

Whoever represents Maine in the Senate will also have a constitutional role in confirming Supreme Court nominees if vacancies occur. The president nominates them, but the Senate provides advice and consent. Those decisions can affect our country for decades.

But this isn’t only about government and institutions. It is about our everyday lives.

I think about Social Security. Medicare. The cost of living. Housing. Healthcare.

Maine is not a state where most families have unlimited financial cushions. For many people, the cost of housing, food, healthcare and raising children is not an abstract economic discussion. It is the arithmetic of everyday life.

Some Mainers are worried about whether they can afford to stay in the communities they love. Others are trying to buy a first home, pay for college, care for an aging parent or manage medical bills. Many are simply wondering whether the next generation will have the same opportunities they had.

These concerns belong to all of us, regardless of our age or family situation. They are about whether people can live with dignity, find stability and build a future here in Maine.

Maybe you are tired of politics. Maybe you’ve tuned it out. Maybe you believe your one vote won’t change anything.

But your vote is one of the few opportunities you have to say, in a very concrete way, this is the future I want.

Before you mark that ballot, don’t vote by reflex or party habit. Stop for a moment, look closely at the future you are choosing, and ask yourself: Is this the country, and the Maine, I want to help create?