voting for a future

By Jenny Contreras

If you had the power to decide the future of this country and of the generations to come, would you act on it?

Today in the United States, millions of Americans are heading to the polls or are mailing out their ballots to exercise their right to vote, a right that was not granted to black men until 1870, to women until 1920, nor to Native Americans until 1962.

According to an electproject.org study, in the 2016 election, of the 231,556,622 eligible voters, 46.9% did not vote at all, meaning nearly half of eligible voters in the United States choose not to use their voice that year.

Although the amount of ballots casted so far in 2020 has surpassed 2016, according to the Washington Post, “With Election Day less than a week away, more than 42 million out of the 92 million mail ballots requested by voters nationally had not yet been returned as of Wednesday afternoon…” This means that unless those ballots are returned by November 3rd at 8 P.M., they will not be counted.

Nancy Contreras, a high school government teacher, shares her opinion on eligible voters not voting: “If you decide not to vote it’s like a slap in the face to the people who fought for your right to vote, especially as women and people of color. People literally died to give you this right and you’re just throwing it away?... and a lot of these laws that are being voted on, affect them [undocumented immigrants] directly, so why not vote for them who can’t.”

Jackie Contreras, a voter, says, “I think it really speaks to privilege. Especially given what the [current] administration has done against undocumented immigrants in this country, against people who will be affected, whether they are undocumented, they’re POCs, LGBTQ+, if you don’t vote you don’t care for these people.”

In 2020, voter suppression and voter intimidation are still an issue and have been encouraged by a sitting president. Nancy explains, “Voter suppression is when people actively seek to stop other people from voting. For example, after slavery ended and with the passing of the 15th amendment, previously enslaved people now had the right to vote… Since they [white people] did not want that to happen, they decided to start putting up literacy tests, poll taxes, little things to stop black people from voting. So it has just evolved to look differently now.”

Today, voter suppression looks like: felons who have served their time but still not having the right to vote, noncitizens living in the U.S. not having the right to vote, and polls being intentionally located far from low-income and/or POC communities.

Voter intimidation occurs when a person or group coerces/threatens someone else to vote as they choose. An example of this is that Trump has continuously encouraged his supporters to watch the polls “very carefully”.

The history of voting rights alone should inspire eligible voters to exercise their right, not only to honor those who have fought for their rights, but also because so much is at stake in this election.

“Right now, communities of color, LGBTQ+ communities, women, everyone is under threat by this fascist who’s currently holding office. But yeah, just basic human rights and human decency are at stake,” Nancy says.

The environment, womens’ reproductive rights, LGBTQ+ rights, immigrants’ rights, BIPOC’s rights, are all on the line under Trump’s administration. And as if that wasn’t enough, Trump’s administration is now challenging the Affordable Care Act. This means that young adults who receive health care through their parents are now at risk of losing their coverage.

The outcome of the 2020 election determines the future and safety of everyone, including the generations to come.

So, how can we ensure a more favorable outcome? Through voting. Young people, especially, are the future of this nation, what we decide today will affect everything else. Now is the time for young voters to defend and protect the rights of those who will not be protected under another four years of Trump’s presidency.

“Understanding the truth and being educated… could make young people want to vote… and act on that education and act on empathy, they go out and they vote and hopefully they vote in a way that supports people of their communities, people who aren’t exposed to the privilege that they hold,” Jackie says.

Teaching young people the true history of this country and encouraging them to seek change is the only way for there to be change. We hold the power to decide our future so please, choose wisely.