09/19/2024
I found an article co-authored by Debra Katz, Jennifer Wilsom and Stephan Graham that explored our civic responsibility to vote. I share a portion of it here and ask you to ensure you are registered and have a plan to vote (early or Election Day, November 5). If you need help, reach out to me and my team. Together we win!
Letter to the Community: Voting is a Civic Duty
The right to vote is fundamental to protecting, asserting and expanding our other rights. Almost all of the social and economic rights Americans enjoy today — including Medicare and Medicaid, the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, the Occupational Health and Safety Act and the Clean Air Act — exist because citizens elected public officials who voted to enact them.
Here, we offer five main reasons for voting:
1 We build and sustain our democracy with votes. Through our votes, we express what we as citizens think is in our collective interests; we empower officials to act in our name to promote those interests.
2 It’s the power of the vote that keeps our elected officials accountable.
3 If only some people vote, elected officials are likely to give less weight to the interests and views of non-participants. Studies show that young voters, along with citizens with lower levels of income and education, are less likely to vote.
4 It is sometimes said that no one person’s vote makes a decisive difference. But each person’s vote makes our democracy more representative of the will of its citizens. In close local elections, small numbers of votes can be decisive.
5 Our country (and our world) faces very significant challenges that require the action of government: climate change, inequality, racial injustice, global conflict, terrorism and poverty. It is essential for you as a citizen to vote on the basis of your informed views about those candidates who offer the best public policy responses to these challenges.
