Let’s talk about your right to vote….
One of the most, if not THE most important way to get involved in politics and contribute to your community is taking the five minutes out of your day to register online and mail in your ballot when it comes time.
Let’s give a little bit of context…White, American males were first given the right to vote to have an open and involved democracy. In 1920, women led a long and hard battle to gain the right to vote to be equal to their male counterparts and 45 years later, after decades of racial discrimination, the voting rights act of 1965 gave African Americans full, legal rights to vote without restriction.
After the battles and tribulations to gain full, unequal access to vote, American voter rates are still outstandingly low. According to statistics gathered by the U.S Elections Project, in 2016 only 58% of eligible voters in the U.S showed up at the polls, nearly matching California’s voter turnout rate. The United States alone has one of the lowest voter turnout rates among other developed countries ranking 31 out of 35 according to Pew research…and look at what happened.
America trails poorly behind other developed countries in voter turnout. Sweden has an average 82.6%, Turkey at 86.4% and Belgium at 86.2% according to followmyvote.com.
Why is voter turnout so low in this country? According to PBS news hour, along with other institutions involved in studying voter turnout rates “restrictive voting laws in some states discourage the electorate from registering to vote. Additionally, they said gerrymandered districts cut across party lines reducing the number of competitive races and interest, and disgruntled citizens, fed up with the often contentious nature of politics, can choose not participate.”
One reason no one should ever choose to be the reason to not vote is the inability to register. You can register to vote in person at the DMV, county and state public assistance office’s, army recruitment centers, you can register to vote in other languages, you can register on facebook by clicking the “vote now” button, or you can visit https://registertovote.ca.gov/
DO NOT FORGET that “The deadline to register online is Monday, October 22, The deadline for registering to vote by mail is Monday, October 22, The deadline to register to vote in person is Tuesday, November 6.”
Go out and register to vote America!