Voting for a Change

I see the right to vote to be the most important right that we have here in the U.S. With the right to vote, we are able to influence public policy by voting in elected officials with similar beliefs to our own and voting for or against any issues that may be on the ballot. With the enormous impact that casting your vote can have, it is a relatively easy thing to do. All you have to do is go to the town/city hall in which you live and register to vote, simple as that.

Then all you have to do on Election Day is go to your local polling station and cast your ballot. There is even an option if you will not be around to cast your ballot on the day of the election: an absentee ballot. All you have to do is go to your town/city hall before the date of the election, request an absentee ballot, and have it postmarked by a certain date, which varies by election.

In the 2004 Presidential election only 64% of Americans utilized their right to vote. That means that 36% of eligible Americans did not. That is a substantial chunk of the population to not do something so simple that could have profound effects.

Some of the reasons that people may not vote is because the election did not concern them, they simply did not care who won, they were not around on the day of the election, or they did not think their vote mattered. All of these reasons people may not vote are misconceptions, however. Even if an election does not seem to directly affect someone, it will affect them in some way, since the person who is elected/ reelected will either keep policy the same or change it. Either possibility will in some way affect everyone. It is for the same reason why people should care who wins an election. Even if people are not around the day of the election, as mentioned above, they can vote via an absentee ballot. When people think that their vote doesn't matter, and don't cast their ballot, they are in a self fulfilling prophecy. That is because the only way in which a vote doesn't count is when that vote is not used.

So no matter whom you decide to vote for in an election, make sure you get out and vote; it could change the world.