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Witnesses are the backbone of the steem blockchain, they are the people that do the "mining" for us. So blocks are produced and everything runs smoothly. With your votes you decide how many blocks are processed by the witnesses. Also witnesses decide which version of the blockchain is running.

So basically you should vote for witnesses that are reliable. That means their servers are always online and in cases of emergency (like this one) the witness is quick to react so steem can go on :)

So that's the bigger picture behind your vote.
For you personally it doesn't really matter if you voted or not. There is no direct consequence for you. But the masses decide :)

OK, thanks; I will think on it a while...