Voting had never worked for me. I’ve always lived in places with large majorities.
Let’s take an extreme example.
Does a Democrat vote in Wyoming or West Virginia really make a difference?
The more of them that give up, the more the Republicans take over the smaller, less significant roles and then you end up with Republicans doing the districting, deciding the cases in the lower courts, twisting the law to suit their agenda. There are definitely blue states that went red this way. The population stayed blue, but didn’t vote enough in the little things and the reds took over the decision making and now you have a red state.
Looking at how fucked the right has been in many elections they were expected to come out on top in, I wouldn’t be very surprised if the Republicans lose in some areas both sides are assuming they’ll win in and typically do this time around. Need every vote though.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-fulfilling_prophecy
If no one votes because they don’t think they can win, they’re right. Vote anyway, you never know, you might unseat a local candidate and begin making incremental progress. And to be honest, the local level is always going to be more impactful on your day to day life anyway.
But if you don’t cast the vote, you’re going to be in the minority forever, along with everyone else who agrees with you and does the same.