Autumn has arrived!

Well, it looks like anoth­er sea­son has come and gone.

As of today, sum­mer 2012 is offi­cial­ly over, and autumn 2012 has begun. The third full sea­son of the year will last almost nine­ty days, encom­pass­ing part or all of four months: Sep­tem­ber, Octo­ber, Novem­ber, and Decem­ber. Win­ter will offi­cial­ly begin four days before Christ­mas this year (Decem­ber 21st).

The begin­ning of autumn always coin­cides with the south­ward equinox. Dur­ing an equinox, the cen­ter of the sun is in the same plane as the equa­tor, because the tilt of the Earth­’s axis favors nei­ther the north­ern or south­ern hemi­spheres. There are about as many min­utes of day­light as there are min­utes of night. Fol­low­ing an equinox, the bal­ance shifts, and the days get short­er and short­er, cul­mi­nat­ing in the short­est day of the year on the win­ter solstice.

This promis­es to be a momen­tous sea­son. Almost exact­ly at its halfway point, we will con­clude the fifty-sev­enth pres­i­den­tial elec­tion in Amer­i­can history.

Either Barack Oba­ma or Mitt Rom­ney will then begin prepar­ing to gov­ern the coun­try for the next four years. In Wash­ing­ton, the entire state House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives is stand­ing for elec­tion, along with half the state Sen­ate and all of the state’s exec­u­tive depart­ment offi­cers (includ­ing governor).

A dozen bal­lot mea­sures are await­ing vot­ers’ approval or dis­ap­proval, and sev­er­al judi­cial posi­tions must be filled. (Many judi­cial races were decid­ed in the win­now­ing elec­tion, so there won’t be many con­test­ed posi­tions on the Novem­ber ballot).

In some places, there are also local races, like in Island Coun­ty, where two of the three coun­ty com­mis­sion­ers are fac­ing the vot­ers. Unusu­al­ly for an even-num­bered year, King Coun­ty has a sher­if­f’s race.

There is a great deal at stake in this elec­tion. That state­ment may sound like a cliche, because every elec­tion is billed as impor­tant nowa­days, but it’s true. Par­tic­i­pa­tion mat­ters; democ­ra­cy is not a spec­ta­tor sport, as the say­ing goes. In fact, it’s not a sport at all. It is real­er than sports.

The con­se­quences of elec­tions affect our lives. There isn’t a good excuse for not pay­ing atten­tion, for not participating.

So do some research. Vote. Make your voice heard. Make that bal­lot count this autumn. And remem­ber to turn off the tele­vi­sion set, step out­side, and enjoy the sea­son… rain or shine. Autumn is about so much more than attack ads on the air­waves and in mail­box­es. To appre­ci­ate it, you have to flex your muscles.