Franklin Delano Roosevelt said, “Nobody will ever deprive the American people of the right to vote except the American people themselves and the only way they could do this is by not voting.”
And with the primaries coming to a close, I’ve been hearing a lot about why people aren’t voting or are choosing not to vote because they feel the candidates are too horrible for them too vote.
See that right there is handing over the power of the vote to the electoral college, to Super Paces, and to corrupt business men. As citizens of the United States we have the right to vote. We have the right to decide who we want in office or not, and it has taken us hundreds of years for every person to be given this right.
Maybe we don’t get to choose individually but collectively we are making a stance because we are part of the numbers. If one person decides not to vote, then another, and another. That’s a loss of people and a loss of a decision.
I took AP U.S. history in high school and remember learning about our history and how important voting was. Black rights? Title X?
Why is it now voting isn’t deemed an important part of people’s life anymore? Just because we have candidates that aren’t worth it or because all of them shouldn’t be in office? See, we live in a democracy. Many countries don’t even have the option to fill out a ballot. It’s just upsetting to see and hear a lot of people not signing up for the primary or doing so and not voting.
I understand that a lot of it has to do with people saying, “our voice doesn’t count.” But by not showing up to the screen or election day, that’s a way of shutting your own voice down, especially since a lot of actions happen through cause and effect.
Also, by voting you are choosing not just the president or vice president, you are choosing other elected officials for your county and state.
Please do me a favor and just think about the benefits of voting.
- Learning more about America’s political system
- Learning more about issues in America
- Taking a stand on key issues and people in office
- Having a part in our democracy
- To be role model for other people who are undecided about voting
Voting is empowering you to learn more, be more, and be able to talk to other people. I’m 100 percent sure that at least once a day I talk to someone about candidates within our presidential election or about issues happening on the news. Like the Gorilla from the Cincinnati Zoo, that has come up so many times in conversations, I can’t count them anymore.
Any who, I just hope you take what I have said into consideration and think about voting in the primaries and future elections. It’s your future, your kid’s future, and the world’s. Your voice matters.
