Voting is a fundamental right for Americans, and one that is sadly all to often taken for granted by many. These days, many elections are marked by poor turnout at the polls on election day. During the Presidential Primary Election in March, only 31.89 percent of registered voters actually cast ballots in the election according to the Tennessee State Election Commission. Of the 3,888,391 registered voters in Tennessee, less than one-third exercised their right to vote. Those numbers were only slightly higher here in Carter County during that election, with 34.9 percent of registered voters actually voting.
The ability to elect our leaders is one of the most important rights we as citizens possess. The eligibility of citizens to vote is set forth in both federal and state laws. There are even several amendments to the U.S. Constitution that deal specifically with voting rights. Those amendments require that a person’s right to vote cannot be denied on account of race, color, previous condition of servitude, sex, or age for those above 18. They also prohibit practices that would discourage voters, such as the paying of a poll tax, which was barred by the 24th Amendment.
The Women’s Sufferage movement in the early 1900s and the Civil Rights movment of the 1950s and 1960s worked to help insure that no voter weas discriminated against because of their race or gender.
Over the centuries, many have died to preserve our right to cast our ballots and make our voices heard —not only the soldiers who gave their life in service to country, but also activists who gave their life to a cause and to the idea that all men are created equal.
This election day, we ask that you remember what a privilege the right to vote is and that you think of all of those through the many years our nation has existed who gave their life so that you, your family members and your friends can have a say in who governs you.
Every election matters. Every vote matters. Every voter matters.
Please, do not squander your right by staying home tomorrow.
Please vote.