By Jenice Armstrong

Philadelphia Daily News

MARRIAGE HAS its perks. If you believe the surveys, being married means you have sex more often than your single sisters.

You're also more likely to do the right thing and vote today.

In the 2004 election, 59 percent of single women reportedly cast ballots in presidential elections, compared with 71 percent of married females.

Had they turned out in force, the unmarried, divorced and widowed females - who tend to lean left - could have been a determining factor in the outcome of the election.

But far too many female "singletons," as the fictional character Bridget Jones refers to the uncoupled, stay away from the polls.

Unmarried women have their reasons. A nonprofit group, Women's Voices Women Vote, released a study earlier this year that confirmed pretty much what we already know about why so many single women don't vote: You're busy. Singles have fewer community ties, since they move more frequently. Negative political campaigning is a turnoff. It's hard to decipher the issues through all the mud-slinging.

Or you might worry that you haven't studied the issues enough to make intelligent choices. It's hard to remember sometimes that your one little vote really matters.

Money also is a factor. This rapidly expanding voting bloc tends to be less affluent than what Bridget Jones calls the "smug marrieds." Women's Voices says half earn $30,000 or less annually. A third of unmarried women under 45 have children.

"If you think about it, just to make ends meet, you may have one to two jobs. You're less likely to have a car," said Page Gardner, Women's Voices president. "Where I live, if I want to vote, I've got to drive. There are logistics to voting that are time-consuming. Many of them can't afford to take the time off to vote."

And then there's the perception thing.

"They think white male politicians don't know what it's like to walk in their shoes," explainedAnna Greenberg, vice president of Greenberg Quinlan Rosner, which conducted the Women's Voices study. "They don't believe that they are going to be responsive to them and their problems."

Today's election is about Iraq. Americans are fed up with the direction of the war, and Democrats are hoping to ride the wave of voter discontent to majorities in both the House and Senate. Their success hinges on whether voter turnout is large.

But as you are well-aware, this is a mid-term election. Women's Voices says unmarried females are much less likely than married women to vote when the presidency isn't being decided.

Stay-the-course types are counting on turnout being low. They don't make it easy for you, so don't you make it easy for them. Go to the polls. Cast your ballot. Think of it as your duty as a singleton. It may take an extra-special effort, but America needs you today.