Casting a ballot isn't merely expressive though??? Like sure I'd prefer to abolish the electoral college which would result in individual ballots having more of an impact in presidential elections but every other race/initiative on a ballot is direct democracy, they very much matter!!
(And I do appreciate the reporters who counter that idea, like the people reporting on "this race was won by only 55 votes", sure it's news but there's lots of news day to day, I like it when people think it's important enough for a write-up and not just a one-off sentence in a larger article)
