There are a lot of warm, fuzzy reasons to vote, but as a halachist, I am limited to citing two compelling reasons why one is actually obligated to do so.
In 1984, Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, the preeminent halachist of the late 20th century, wrote in a letter that all observant Jewish citizens of this country are obligated to vote.
Though unswervingly orthodox - he studied under the great
halachist, Rabbi Akiva Eiger, Caro had some familiarity with German literature, and was also a proponent of Jewish settlement in Palestine.
Paradoxically, Judaism's
halachist par excellence taught that only sharply honed intellectual insights could bring one into a true encounter with the Almighty.
Haviva Ner-David, whose "Feminism and Halakhah [Jewish law]" smoothly marshals the ideas of several preeminent feminist
halachists and philosophers of halacha--from Judith Plaskow to Rachel Adler, to Tamar Ross and Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi--to argue against the reemergence of patriarchy and for a truly redemptive Judaism.
Parenthood is a constant practice of discerning what
halachists call the "demand of the hour" and striking the right balance between tradition and innovation.