Why We Vote

There is an assumption by most Americans that the cornerstone of our representative government—the inalienable right to vote—has always existed. In fact, the Constitution does not guarantee suffrage, but has defaulted to the various states to determine who can and cannot cast a ballot. Over the years, Federal legislation has moved to correct denial of voting rights to large segments of the population:

15th Amendment prohibits the denial of the vote based on race, color or previous condition of servitude;

19th Amendment prohibits the denial of the right to vote based on gender;

24th Amendment prohibits the revocation of voting rights due to non-payment of a poll tax or any other tax;

26th Amendment prohibits the denial of the right of US citizens, eighteen years of age or older, to vote.

Federal law extends voting rights to Native Americans and to citizens and members of the military overseas through absentee ballots, though work remains in extending the vote to rehabilitated felons and full representation to residents of U.S. territories and Washington, D.C. In spite of these steps to expand inclusion, many states continue to restrict access to the voting booth through such measures as reducing the number of polling places, the period in which these places are open, or by requiring special voter identification. Gerrymandering imposed on districts to assure an unfair advantage for one party over another, and the occasional allegation of voter fraud foster discouragement to cast a ballot, and when eligible voters sit out elections, they forfeit to others the right to determine representation.

Since 1978, an average of 39.35 percent of eligible voters have cast ballots during midterm Congressional elections, and the numbers decline even further for local elections, contributing to an overall downward trend in voter participation. The result of such neglect has been the election of a president in 2016 who lost the popular vote by nearly three million votes, and Senate Republicans who retained their majority even though overall, nearly five million more votes were cast for Democratic candidates. Add to this the continuing threat to our elections and sovereignty from a hostile nation.

This account of history is offered in the hope that it may persuade those who have neglected an important part of a national duty to register and to vote. America cannot remain viable as a democracy unless citizens fulfill their obligation to cast an informed vote, not just for a party, but for candidates who project the values to which we subscribe and are willing to provide honest representation of an entire constituency, not just those with money or influence. And this can happen only when we treat the act of casting a ballot as something more than our right and as nothing less than our responsibility. So many before us have fought to attain a government of the people, by the people and for the people, and this critical undertaking is passed on to us each time we step into a voting booth and exercise our suffrage.

Richard Kushnier