Do I have to….? Voting as a Right or Duty

The constitution of the United States mentions 5 separate times “the right to vote” (1). Voting is certainly not just a privilege, but the right of every US citizen to vote. But with this right to vote comes a heavy responsibility! Each of us as US citizens must cast our vote to fulfill this important civic duty. This November, fulfill your civic duty and vote.

We must remember the examples of the great revolutionaries, people like Madison and Hamilton, who formed America, and gave us our constitution and our right to vote. We must remember Lincoln for emancipating the slaves, and suffragette leaders like Susan B. Anthony who got women their right to vote. It’s important to remember leaders from around the world like Mahatma Gandhi who resisted an Empire on whom the sun never set, or our own Martin Luther King Jr, who had a dream. They used the power of people’s voices to overturn the impossible. We ordinary citizens can certainly emulate them in a small way and overcome the problems we perceive today by fulfilling our civic duty to vote.

Even though the right to vote has been so hard won for every group (women, African Americans, Native Americans, Asian Americans, young people, etc), voting in the United States is treated as a perfunctory exercise by all groups, and only slightly more than 50% of eligible voters vote in any presidential election. The input of citizens is a necessity for true democracy, and if only half the citizens vote, inputs are inadequate and incomplete. For democracy to work, each of us must participate, not just observe and criticize.

Most of us citizens accept gracefully and solemnly our civic duty to sit on juries, and our duty to defend the country in war, so why not when it comes to our duty to vote? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if each of us took voting as an important civic duty, and we had 80 to 90% voter participation? High participation levels would increase confidence in our leaders, and the leaders in turn would have clear mandates on how citizens expect them to lead, at every level whether it be President or Senate or city council. There would be no place for suppression or obstruction of voters, and government would be forced to make voting easy and accessible to all. Large and regular voter turnouts would also reduce dependance on dark money. Many groups (2) are advocating mandatory civic duty voting, and while I dont go so far as to force people to vote, I do strongly feel it is an important responsibility and moral obligation of every citizen to cast a vote, and I hope you will too this November.

(1) https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/09/voting-right-or-privilege/262511/

(2) https://www.brookings.edu/research/lift-every-voice-the-urgency-of-universal-civic-duty-voting/

Resources

A short list to help you vote and get involved.

(I will update this list periodically, as I find new and helpful tools.)

Vote.org

A website to check your voter registration, and help you register to vote in all 50 states

This is a great not-for-profit website that can help you check whether your voter registration is current, no matter which state or territory you live in. This site can also help you register to vote where you live, and send you reminders.

VoteWithMe

An App to help you learn who voted and who is registered

A delightful free app for your smartphone to help you learn the voting history and registration of each person on your phone contact list. VoteWithMe wont tell you who they voted for, as that’s private information, but it can tell you all public information about your contacts, such as their state and district of registration, their voting history in past elections, and their party affiliation if they declared it.

VoteWithMe will help you send individual texts to each contact to remind them to vote, and even ask them to get the word out. Texts are individualized for different types of contacts.

Remember, there is a great deal of research that the most effective way to get a person to vote is through his/her friends or family. A personal text from you to a friend is twenty times (yes, folks, 20X) more likely to influence, rather than a TV advertisement or social media post.

Sample Email

Folks, this sample email is from the League of Women Voters, a very important non-partisan organization that is 100 years old this year. They believe in getting out the vote. Visit their website www.LWV.org for more info.

From: You

To: Everyone on your email contact list

Subject: Important Information before you Vote

(best if sent personally and/or in a mail merge with at least the first name of the recipient customized). 

Hi [NAME],

Election Day is almost here! Are you ready to vote?

I am reaching out to share some important tips for Election Day.

This election is important, and it is your chance to take control for your community and weigh in on the issues that matter most to you and your family. As voters, we all have an equal say in determining our future. That’s why it is so important to go cast a vote!

Here are a few important tips:

  • Please visit www.VOTE411.org and enter your address to find helpful information about voting in our community, including candidate information
  • On Election Day, polling places are open in from XX am to XX pm.
  • [IF required in your state ]At the polls, you’ll be required to show [an ID/utility bill/etc. ].

The leaders we elect will make decisions that affect your everyday life — your job, health care, energy costs, the economy and more. So don’t sit this one out — join your friends and neighbors and make it count on [Election Date]!

If I can help answer any questions you have about the election process, please feel free to email or call me at [123-456-7890]

Thank you for voting!

YOUR NAME

Sample Texts

Folks, these texts are very similar to the ones on VoteWithMe, a wonderful free app for your smartphone that can tell you the voting history of everyone on your contact list. I suggest you download the app, and they can guide you better on which text to use and the best time to send, etc.

Friends and Family

Hi Tom or Francesca, Just reminding people about the elections coming up. Are you planning to vote?

Strong Voter

Hola Jose or Linda, I know you are going to vote, but what about your friends and family? We need to get them to the polls too. Be sure to remind them.

Professional contact

Hello Dick or Sarah, I have taken on the challenge of reminding my network to vote.

Havent talked in a while

Hey Abdul or Kate, Its been a while! I’ve been reminding folks about the election coming up and thought I’d reach out. You gonna vote?

League of Women Voters

This venerable organization is 100 years old and has its roots in the women’s suffrage movement. LWV is a nonpartisan, activist, grassroots organization that believes voters should play a critical role in democracy. They believe in the power of women to create a more perfect democracy.

Remember the 19th amendment, ratified only 100 years ago on August 18, 1920: “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.” The result of sacrifice and hard work by many women from all walks of life.

Is talking about politics taboo? Importance of political talk

By Shabbir

There is an ominous silence when it comes to political conversation in America these days. Talking about politics is a taboo subject! We talk freely of football or family, traffic or weather, economics or the pandemic, but a very rare topic of conversation among us Americans nowadays is politics. Why is that? 

In college I had two good friends, one a staunch Republican and the other an equally strong Democrat. I enjoyed listening to their impromptu debates late at night, especially during the Watergate era. My Republican friend had a picture of then President Richard Nixon over his desk, and one fine day, he turned the picture around so that it faced the wall! It was the day that he realized the President was lying to the people who elected him, and it was his way of expressing his disgust.

Politics must come back as a normal topic of conversation among all of us. We cannot just depend on news networks or social media for our political views. If ordinary citizens are too embarassed to talk politics with their friends, or even worse afraid to do so, how can we have a robust democracy? Try to talk openly about politics with your friends or coworkers or people you meet, to learn about different points of view. Ask your boss, or someone who works for you, what they think of a candidate. Ask the local grocery clerk, or the guy who cleans your yard, or your financial advisor, or your doctor, what he or she thinks about current issues. Let us all try and understand other points of view, and not just burrow among people who only have views like our own. 

Do you know whether your friends vote? Would you like to know? You can easily find the voting record and voter registration of every person you know, as thats public information. You can’t tell who she voted for (that’s private to each voter), but you can find out if she voted in past elections, and if she is registered to vote this time around. Download this great free app “VoteWithMe” on your iPhone or Android, and it will search the voting history of every contact on your phone. It will also help you send texts reminding them to vote, or to register. Reach out to your friends and co-workers, especially to people with opposing views, and those in swing states with close elections.

I recently saw the Netflix documentary “The Social Dilemma”, and this should be required watching for all, young and old, as it shows how we are all getting manipulated by social media. It points to the importance of conversation and simple discourse between people, especially about politics.

We are far too dependent on social media and news networks for political information. We are constantly listening to “experts” and “media darlings” and following the comments of “celebrities”, and subject to manipulation by the AI behind the business models of social media companies. But why do we care more about what these celebrities think, rather than the people we interact with on a daily basis? It’s important that we open ourselves to discussion and talk with real people in our own social circle, and listen to different points of view. Ours is not just a choice between Fox or CNN, and their portrayals of Antifa or Neo-Nazis. There are 328 million of us in this country, each with views that are shaped by our unique experiences. Let’s listen, discuss and learn from each other, and this November, please vote your conscience.

Talk to your kids, especially your teenagers, and make sure they understand the political process in USA, and why voting is important. You may be surprised. They may know more than you do, and you may learn something from them. On the other hand, you may be able to teach them about the importance of their civic duty to vote. Connect to young people from any walk of life, whether at the grocery store or someone you know socially, and talk to them for 5 minutes about some political issue, and learn their opinion. Young people are especially important because they are the leaders of tomorrow. Again you may be surprised, and it may form a new bond. You might even get them to vote.

How did I get here? My personal political evolution

I came to USA as a student in 1970 and became a naturalized citizen in 1986. One of my clearest memories of the process of becoming a US citizen is during the citizenship interview, the immigration officer asking me “Who is the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court?” I had memorized names of Senators and Presidents and even Representatives, but never thought of the equally important third branch of our government. I answered “uh … Warren..?” and hesitated…. Should I say Earl (for Earl Warren) or Burger (for Warren Burger)? Fortunately, I picked the right one! 

I did not know much about American politics for many years, and very little about American history. Arriving here in the 70’s during the height of the Vietnam war, and seeing student riots on my campus, and then going through Watergate in my first few years in this country, you would think I should have known better, but I was not very political. I did not even bother to vote for many of my early years as a citizen. Like many first-generation immigrants, I was focused on the economic betterment of my family, to the neglect of civic duty, politics and many other aspects of life. I did well economically in this land of opportunity, but I now realize besides building a family and wealth, it’s important to speak up for what I believe in… it’s important to vote. 

Over time, I have learned the importance of making my voice heard, even if it is in the minority, and this blog is one small way to make up for lost time. There is no single seminal moment that caused this change in me, but a series of big and small events and experiences have made me realize the importance of voting. Perhaps the biggest realization came with the election of Mr. George W. Bush, who won the Presidency by the slimmest of margins. Local politics were revealed when I helped canvass votes for a neighbor running for city council, and did a fundraiser for my local congressman. And another big wakeup call was when my 8-year-old daughter wrote to President Clinton to stop the bombing in Iraq in February 1998.

Most of us are immigrants, whether 1st or 2nd or nth generation, and we all came to USA to find a better life. Some of us came for economic betterment, others for freedom of expression, still others to escape political repression. As citizens of USA, whether we were born here or naturalized, it’s up to us to help make the best of our great country. The most effective way we can do that is by choosing the best people to lead our country, whether that be for President, or the leaders in our local city council, and the way to choose is to vote!

Am I getting the best deal? Economic implications of voting

Like many of us, I spend many hours trying to get the “best deal” for major and minor purchases, such as TV’s, cars, financial services, groceries, etc. We all research the product or service for features that suit us best, and we try to pay the lowest price. 

Do you ever think about your taxes? Yes, I know, most of us hate to pay taxes, but we need the roads and schools and defense and other services these taxes buy for us. Shouldn’t we research these tax expenditures and get the “best deal” for our tax dollars?

About 25% of the money you earn in your lifetime will be paid as taxes – federal, state, property, sales and other taxes.[1] If you earn on average $50,000 per year, and you work from age 25 to retirement at age 65, you will have earned $2 million dollars in your lifetime, and you will have contributed $500,000 of your earnings to taxes. If your earnings average $100,000 per year, your tax contributions over 40 years of work will be $1 million dollars! (Likely more, as you will be in a higher tax bracket :). That’s probably far more than you will spend on any other major purchase, like a house or a car. Shouldn’t you spend at least a small portion of your time getting the “best deal” for your tax dollars?

The people you elect will spend your tax dollars. You determine the “best deal” for your hard-earned tax dollars by voting to elect those most aligned to your way of thinking. You have the power to decide what features you want in your government spending, and how much should be spent or saved, by voting for the right person. Spend a little time on google to research the issues, whether they involve how your local School Board chooses to spend money on lunches and computers, or your city on police training, or how the Federal Government spends money on defense, infrastructure, or healthcare. And spend a little time getting to know your candidates’ positions. Vote for the person you think will spend your tax dollars the way you would.

You can let your views be known to your elected officials, whether senators or city council, whether it was the candidate you voted for or the other party. It only takes a few minutes to email them. You will be surprised at how effective your voice can be, but first, you must elect the right people this November with your vote.

[1] Tax Policy Center. “Tax Policy Center Briefing Book.” May 2020 https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/how-do-us-taxes-compare-internationally .