Swing Vote

Kevin Costner shines as Bud, an apathetic American who could not care less about politics.  The person who finally does make him care about the world around him is his young daughter Molly (newcomer Madeline Carroll), a whip smart elementary schooler whose forte is civics.  When Bud fails to show up on election day to pick up Molly from the poll station (she made him promise to come by and vote), Molly takes matters into her own hands.  She goes into the polling station, slips past a sleeping poll officer, forges her father’s signature and proceeds to vote.  While she is in the polling booth, however, a janitor accidentally pulls the plug on all of the polling machines, leaving Molly spooked and Bud’s ballot left in the machine.  What ensues is the closest thing to election pandemonium that the country has ever seen.  The pandemonium, however, is solely focused on Bud’s vote.  Bud’s one vote will cause all of New Mexico’s electoral votes to swing to one of the two candidates, therefore giving that candidate the Presidency.  This comedy provides some great laughs as well as a valuable non-political message.

Overall, I thought Swing Vote was an extremely balanced and well written comedy about the importance of voting in American society.  The message that I took away from the film was to avoid apathy at all costs.  Bud is the kind of guy who just doesn’t keep up with, or care about politics.  I think the most important thing we can learn from this movie is to take a side.  I really don’t care what side you take, but it’s important to formulate an opinion on certain policies and vote for the candidate that best represents those policies.  I give Swing Vote a 4 out of 5 stars.