The election's over.

The winners are making plans. The losers are making excuses.

And then there's the rest of us.

You know who you are. You stood in the booth, looked at the two names… and picked the one you disliked less.

Maybe you lean right and your candidate made you wince. Maybe you lean left and you felt the exact same way.

You didn't vote FOR someone. You voted AGAINST someone.

I'm in that crowd too, sometimes. So this isn't a lecture. It's an invitation.

The part we skip

Here's what a lot of us do. Me included.

We grumble about the choices. At the diner, on Facebook, at Thanksgiving. "Is this really the best we can do?"

And then… life gets busy. Two years go by. The ballot looks about the same.

Thing is, that's pretty understandable. Nobody hands us a map for what to do in between.

But complaining on its own doesn't change the ballot. Showing up does.

And honestly? Most of us have more to offer than we think.

The empty chairs

Here's why showing up matters more than it might seem.

This year, 6,137 state legislative seats were up for election. In 2,085 of them, about 34%, the ballot didn't have both major parties on it (Ballotpedia).

And before anybody points fingers… it cuts both ways. 1,272 seats had no Republican. 813 had no Democrat.

It gets worse further down the ballot. Ballotpedia covered more than 42,000 elections through October, everything below president. 69.5% were uncontested (Ballotpedia). For legislative seats? 78.8%.

No choice at all.

Here in Maine, 21 of the 116 state legislators running for re-election had nobody running against them (Ballotpedia).

That's not a conspiracy, folks. It's empty chairs.

And empty chairs get filled by whoever shows up. Lately, that hasn't been many of us.

Find the right person. Period.

One more thing. This isn't about finding a better Republican or a better Democrat.

It's about finding the RIGHT person. Party label optional.

Some of the best people in your town don't want a label at all. Fine. Plenty of offices don't need one, and independents can get on the ballot too.

An actor and a senator walk into a ballot…

You don't have to take my word for it.

Last month, actor Matthew McConaughey put out a video making the case for independents. His point? The No. 1 political identity in America isn't Republican or Democrat. It's independent. And an independent vote isn't a wasted vote.

"Independents belong in the fight — not as a protest, not as a spoiler — but as a real and potential winner, on the ballot and considered seriously by us," he said (The Hill).

He also said a true independent isn't a fence-sitter. They take the best of both sides… and that's not indecision. It's judgment. In a Congress this close, he argued, just a handful of true independents could be the majority-makers.

Former Sen. Joe Manchin, who launched the Independent Leadership Council with his daughter Heather to recruit and back independent candidates, quickly agreed (The Hill).

"If you want to get something done and you have two, three, or four in the middle [who] says, 'I will work with either side who has our country's best interest at heart,' that's where we'll go," Manchin said.

You don't have to agree with either man on everything. (I don't.) But they're onto something.

What if we just… didn't choose evil?

Here's what I keep coming back to.

For years, a lot of us have flipped back and forth. One election, the lesser evil is red. The next, it's blue. Then back again.

What if we stopped?

What if, instead of picking the lesser of two evils, those of us in the middle simply committed to not choosing evil at all?

Not by staying home. By putting real people on the ballot. People we'd actually be proud to vote for.

That's not a protest. It's a plan.

What you can do tomorrow

You don't have to quit your job. You just have to start earlier… and closer to home.

1. Write down what you actually want. Not who. What. Honest. Local. Good with a budget. Listens to people who disagree. Now you've got a yardstick instead of a team jersey.

2. Look past the usual names. Who in your town do people really trust? The selectboard member who actually returns calls? The shop owner everybody goes to for advice? The retired teacher who still reads the whole school budget? Those folks never get asked.

3. So… ask them. A cup of coffee and "Ever thought about running?" can change a ballot. If they say no, ask what would make it a yes. If they say "I'm not a party person"… good. Tell them they don't have to be.

4. Start local. Selectboard, school board, planning board, budget committee. These seats matter, they're winnable, and in a lot of towns nobody's asking about party.

5. Learn the independent route. Every state has rules for getting on the ballot without a party, usually by collecting signatures by a deadline. Look up yours now, not next summer. Then help carry the clipboard.

6. Use every tool you've got. Primaries can help, and if you can vote in one, go. Write-ins can work in some races too. Check how your state counts them. But neither one is the whole game. The game is getting a good person on the ballot.

7. Host a candidate forum. Or at least go to one. The library, a church hall, the grange. Invite everybody running, any party or none. Let neighbors ask the questions. You'll learn more in an hour than in a month of ads.

8. Back the person, not just the vote. A first-time candidate needs signatures. A few volunteers. A yard sign. Somebody telling them they're doing fine. Anybody can do that.

9. Talk to the neighbor who held their nose the OTHER way. Odds are they're just as frustrated as you. Don't argue. Ask who they wish had been on the ballot. Ask to learn, not to win… and actually listen. You might be looking for the same person.

Two years goes fast

That said, here's the good news.

The next election isn't two years away. The people who'll be on that ballot are deciding right now, this winter, whether to run. There's still time to help.

We could grumble about it again in 2028. Or we could try something different this time. (I've done my share of grumbling, believe me.)

So here's my question for every nose-holder, left, right and in between. Me included. What will you do tomorrow to start finding the person you WANT to vote for?

Not the person you can tolerate. The person who should be running.

Go find them.

Continue to do what you've always done, and you'll get what you've always got.

Talk to your neighbor

• Who in your town would you vote for in a heartbeat if they ran, party or not?
• What's stopping you from asking them this week?