The Importance of Voting

Getting Your Voice Across

By Laura Peters petersle@vcu.edu

With the upcoming election many registered voters are debating whether or not to go to the polls. Citizens think that their vote won’t count no matter how they vote, and many think it all depends on the Electoral College.

“Whether you voted dozens of times or your first time this is one of the most important [elections],” says Jared Leopold, spokesman for the Democratic Party of Virginia. “That’s why it’s so important for Virginia to vote.”

First, you need to consider the importance of voting. In our history many Americans were not born with the right to vote, and if the legislation was still intact from back then, the only people who could vote would be white land owners, which rule out a vast majority, especially college students, African Americans, and women. It only came to be in 1870, with the Fifteenth Amendment, that African Americans had the right to vote. Even then they were widely discriminated against with poll taxes and literacy tests. It wasn’t until 1920 that women were secured the right to vote, which is only about 90 years ago.

Voting is a great way to have your voice heard. Many countries have fought for the right to vote and others are still fighting to have their voice heard. It’s a privilege that many people around the world don’t have.

“We have different people on campus, people coming out and knocking on doors,” says Leopold. “We expect Virginia to be very, very close this year and every single vote counts.”

“It’s really important because for a lot of us this is our first election, I mean why miss it?” says Katie Rivara, a volunteer for the Obama Campaign in Richmond and Education major at VCU. “And for women especially, we haven’t even been doing this for a hundred years, and you can’t let this chance pass us by.”

She voted for the first time on Saturday, using her absentee ballot, saying, “It was exciting, I got kind of giddy!”

This election is being recognized as the year that the younger generation will make the difference. In four years college students will most likely be graduating, or already in the real world playing some part in society. It’s a big deal to be a part of something that would directly influence your future. By voting, you’re electing a president that you think will do the best for you, and by voting for that candidate, it makes them one step closer to carrying out ideas that will benefit you.

James Watkinson, a History professor at VCU says, “There are very few times in a person’s life he gets to express him or herself and have it count in regards to our government.”

People also complain a lot about what is going on in politics, saying how the government should fix our problems. But, you really don’t have any right to complain if you don’t partake in the process. By voting, you voice your opinion on who you think can fix the problems that trouble you. If you haven’t voted, then you shouldn’t complain about problems. Voting is one way to fix those problems.

“People who think that it doesn’t count haven’t heard about the 1960 election,” says Watkinson. “Where one vote change in each precinct in the country made the difference, just one vote…Richard Nixon would have been president 8 years sooner than he was.”

“I’ve always thought that it was important, it was my right and my duty and I’ve voted when I first got the chance,” states Watkinson. In regards to how historic this election is he says, “It’s a referendum on how far America has come, someone is going to be in a position of power that’s never been then before, so it’s absolutely historical, in that regard it’s probably one of the more important elections we’ve had in the last hundred years.”

Another huge dilemma in voting is if your vote really counts. Most think that it doesn’t count and it’s just a bunch of old men sitting in the Electoral College make the decision for us.

The way the Electoral College works is this, when you cast you vote on the ballot you are essentially voting for an elector when voting for president. Those electors have pledged to cast their votes for a certain presidential candidate. In Virginia the Electoral College uses the method of “winner-takes-all” meaning that whatever elector gets the most votes that presidential candidate wins.

To give an example; say you’re going to the polls and you vote for Candidate A. By voting for Candidate A you are actually voting for Elector A. The more people who vote for Candidate A the more votes go towards Elector A and the same if it were for Candidate B. So the more votes you make for Candidate A, the more of a chance Elector A will make the final vote for Candidate A.
Virginia has 13 electors based on population, each chosen by their party and they have never held an elected office before, like Senate or House, and so on. In some states you are allowed to vote from a selection of electors, by having their names on the ballot, who therein vote for president. The process of using the Electoral College is called an indirect election where the citizens elect people to make the decision of who will be president for them.

Jacob Epstein, an Urban Planning and Geography major at VCU, voted a month and a half ago through absentee has already voiced his opinion.

“I don’t think anything’s really going to change unless both Congress and the President are Democratic,” Says Epstein. “So, it’s important to vote for your senator.” Epstein thinks that people should “go out and do something, show that you care, and voice your opinion.”

If you are unable to make it to you voting destination, for example you go to school in a different city than you are registered in, there is still time to make your voice heard. The mail in deadline has already passed, but you can also present your absentee ballot to your voting district by November 1st. If you’ve already sent in your ballot and are afraid it got lost, damaged, or destroyed than you can go to www.sbe.virginia.gov/cms/ and click My Absentee Ballot Status and it tells you when it arrived. This site also tells you where you vote if you are not sure of your voting precinct by clicking on Where Do I Vote in Virginia.

Despite Electoral College and the supposed hassle of voting, it’s an easy thing to do, and such a privilege. Just go to the polls and vote the way you want because we are the United States of America and we’ve earned the right to be heard.