Monroe Dispatch - No Struggle, No Progress

Voting is a fundamental right for every adult citizen in a democracy. Everybody’s vote does matter always. As reflected in the most recent election, voting is power. As you reviewed the election results, you could readily see the importance of the votes. Whether your candidate or proposition came out of the process with the majority of the votes or not, you could see that the most votes made a significant difference. voting did not matter much, we would not have seen efforts to make it harder for certain people to vote. For voters of color, engaging in an election is not always easy or guaranteed. During this past election, many minorities experienced what is known as voter suppression. Voter suppression is any effort, either legal or illegal, by way of laws, administrative rules, and/or tactics that prevents eligible voters from registering to vote. With so many efforts to keep minorities from voting, it was evident that minorities have power in their votes. Going forward, everyone should demand to vote. Understand what voter suppression looks like and engage with organizations that work to fight against disenfranchisement. If voting had not mattered so much, politicians and governments would not have tried to influence it in these significant elections. From this recent election we all observed that voters were in line to vote before the polls closed and they had a right to stay in line until they cast their ballot. There were numerous efforts to take away voting rights because each vote counts and each vote is powerful. Even though this election is considered to be over, be aware that there are continuing barriers to freedom and democracy. Limits to voting rights range from basic manipulations to overt criminal acts. Let this recent election be a lesson on the extent to which people will go to win an election and to prohibit minorities from voting. Many politicians used fear and misinformation to scare people of color. It is newsworthy to know that some people of color did not vote because they had been convinced that they would be voting illegally at certain polling locations. That is an obvious example of voter suppression which providing misleading information to keep people from voting. If you woke up the next morning after the election and discovered that your candidate won, then, you should feel great that you exercised your right to vote toward a victory. If you discovered that your candidate did not win, you should commend yourself for exercising the right to vote which your forefathers fought for so many years ago. Whichever way the election turned out for you, if you voted, always remember that there is Power in Voting.