Voting ends at 4 p.m. ET on Thursday. Real fans have voted hundreds, if not thousands, of times, and Votto’s lead remains slim. It’s not too late to do your part and join this elite group of Votto supporters: start now!

Tomorrow, Jamie from Better Off Red will be hosting a lunch at Great American Ball Park, where you can apparently just show up and get free food that you try not to spill on your keyboard while you join the masses of other Reds fans voting for Joey Votto.

VOTE VOTTO LUNCH TOMORROW AT GABP!

In support of Joey Votto, Better Off Red will be hosting a Vote Votto Lunch here at Great American Ball Park tomorrow (Wednesday, July 7) from noon to 2pm ET in the press dining room.

You’re invited to join me and many others as we enjoy some free food and plenty of Votto voting.

We will have laptops available for you to help us vote Joey onto the NL All-Star team. If you’d rather use your own computer, you’re more than welcome to bring it to the event. I promise I won’t break it.

Joey needs your help. I can’t think of a more appropriate place to cast your ballots than the very building in which Joey does all of his fantastic work. So come on down to “campaign headquarters” tomorrow to VOTE  VOTTO!

If you plan on attending, enter the main gates at Great American Ball Park on Crosley Terrace. From there, someone will escort you to the press dining room where all of the partying/voting is taking place.

In the meantime, click here to vote Votto.

It’s nice: you don’t see many bloggers these days with the balls to use the all-caps header. The years it must have taken him to work his way to a Google page rank of 5 do come with certain privileges.

I hope that you can make it. Eat a piece of fried chicken for Jeff Brantley and me. I, unfortunately, will be working in the Indianapolis software company coal mine tomorrow, but the Lean Cuisine I’ll eat at my desk will taste all the healthier with a side of Vote Votto.

Was Joey Votto the reason for the creation of the What I Love About series? Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe I’m not ready to delve into that part of my psyche, so back off. What’s for sure is that I’ve put off writing it, always feeling like I was too tired, my time was too tight, or I wasn’t feeling eloquent enough to do justice to the awesomeness that is Joey Votto.

Suddenly, we are post All-Star voting and in the unthinkable scenario of the league’s best first basemen omitted. Like many people, the fact that this is even possible makes me throw up my hands at the joke that the All-Star game has become–maybe has always been–and if it were just about me, I would turn my back on the whole charade, shake my head at the obvious meaninglessness of it and try to get on with my day.

However, it’s not just about me or even about all the fans (ironically enough), but it’s also about Joey Votto. Guys, this team has sucked hard for friggin’ decade. This is our chance to express our gratitude to the man who has played such an important role in changing that and who has been, up till now, ignored. This guy doesn’t deserve to be left behind just because MLB found it necessary to pimp Albert Pujols and Charlie Manuel felt the need to practice nepotism.

Which gets to the heart of why I love Joey Votto. Because no matter what goes on around him in the league or on the field, he’s going to keep on being awesome. If the world is too blind to see that for themselves, well then we’ll just tell them.

Balloting began immediately following Sunday’s Major League All-Star Selection Show and continues until 4 p.m. ET on Thursday, July 8. The winners will be announced on MLB.com shortly thereafter.

Mobile voting in the U.S. is exclusive to Sprint, Nextel, and Boost subscribers. To receive the 2010 All-Star Game Final Vote Sponsored by Sprint mobile ballot, text the word “VOTE” to 1122. To vote for a specific player, simply text message your choice to 1122. EXAMPLE: Text “A3” to vote for AL Player 3 or “N3” to vote for NL Player 3. Messaging and Data Rates May Apply. Mobile voting in Canada is open to all carriers; fans should text their choices to 88555. Std rates may apply.

The final All-Star vote tally before the one that decides the line-up is now available. Joey Votto, Brandon Phillips, Orlando Cabrera, and Jonny Gomes hang in there in their races, but Scott Rolen is actually within striking distance.

Ken Griffey, Jr. was on the All-Star line-up in 2007, and before that the last Red to appear was Barry Larkin in 2000. Two voted in the last 10 years? Don’t you think we ought to do something about that? Hell, Rolen himself has appeared in the line-up that many times in that many years. Let’s send him again.

Remember, you get 25 votes per email address. Yahoo!, Hotmail, and Gmail are your partners in making your voice heard.

It also appears you can vote 25 times per email address per day. At least I’ve been able to cast votes on different days with the same email address. Why not try it out for yourself?

Tonight I take a break from encouraging you to Vote Votto and allow the Cincinnati Reds to do it for me:

The Reds need your votes!
June 15, 2010 – Major League Baseball has announced the next update of the leading vote getters in balloting for the 2010 All-Star Game. Joey Votto, Brandon Phillips, Orlando Cabrera and Scott Rolen are among the Top 5 at their respective positions! The voting is heating up and the Reds need your help. You can vote up to 25 times per e-mail address to help your Reds get to the Midsummer Classic in July.

You can’t vote at the ballpark anymore – so vote online at reds.com – voting ends for good at 11:59 PM ET on Thursday, July 1, 2010! Keep voting on reds.com!

Remember, you get 25 votes per email address. Yahoo!, Hotmail, and Gmail are your partners in making your voice heard.

Voting by proxy is a legitimate procedure in Parliment proceedings and homeowners’ association annual meetings, and you don’t have to give away any personal information to do it. Send me a message from your email address to give me permission to vote on your behalf, and I’ll vote by proxy for your email address.

I promise not to send you any unsolicited email–I can’t promise MLB won’t though.