Voting is a word that might bring out joy, dread or indifference. Some eagerly await Election Day on Nov. 5, and others despise the date. The right to vote is entrenched in American society, and over the years more and more people have fought to gain the right to vote – to gain a voice in the political system that governs them.
So why do people who have a right that others have fought for simply not use it?
Some people claim they don’t vote because they believe that their vote doesn’t matter. However, if voting didn’t matter, then why would more and more states be attempting to put restrictions on when or how you can vote?
With consistent voter roll purges and challenges to vote by mail systems, it makes it obvious that those in power don’t want you to vote. They try to make it so hard to vote because it really does matter.
But what’s much more insidious is those that claim they don’t care enough to vote. That whoever gets elected is fine by them. Whether it’s because they think both presidential candidates are equally good or bad, or because they just think they won’t be affected by who wins.
What people don’t seem to see is that voting is important not just because it allows you to select the people who run your country, but because the people who run the country are more likely to listen to you in particular if you’re an active participant in the political system.
Voting is a right that is soaked in precious blood, sweat and tears. African-Americans didn’t have the right to vote until 1870, and after that, poll taxes and literacy tests disproportionately targeted marginalized communities. Women didn’t have the right to vote until 1920, and even then Native American women were excluded.
By refusing to vote, people may think that they’re not making a statement of any kind or that they’re protesting because a candidate is not a big proponent of an issue they may favor, but voting is not about finding the perfect candidate. It is about finding the candidate who gets you closest to the world you want.
Change is a slow, painful process. Sometimes that change won’t happen in your lifetime. But the only way to get it to start is to take that first step in the right direction.
The right to vote is a very precious thing that not everyone has, and no one explains it better than Vida Rodriguez, sophomore criminal justice major, whose parents come from Cuba.
“My parents come from a communist country, so they tell me that if you have that right, you should use it. Because in their country, they didn’t have that freedom,” Rodriguez said.
If you don’t take advantage of your right to vote, if you don’t fight tooth and nail to make sure you can, then someday you might wake up to find that you just can’t. Don’t fall into complacency — Vote.
Anaum Hussain, sophomore communication major, is a reporter for The Current.
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