From the look of things, especially during midterm elections, we (Democrats) tend to be a pretty cavalier and careless lot. Maybe not here on DKos so much, but the records are clear: many voters just stay home on election day.
Maybe we forget what a responsibility it is. Maybe we forget what it means to have the right to vote. Maybe we forget that it’s not just a responsibility, it’s an imperative.
To those who can’t vote, to those who are prevented, and those in whose path obstacles are thrown to discourage them, voting may mean more than you ever considered.
This story is not mine. I asked a friend, who’d told me of the experience, to write it up for me so I could publish it.
Possibly the most gratifying thing I have done, to make a difference to life as I know it, was to work with a group of NYC organizers to register as many voters as possible before each of the last elections. Do it! Just get forms and directions from your local election board and go out to a busy corner with a clipboard and a smile. You might even save a life.
About seven years ago, a group of us tackled the area around New York University. Many college students have not updated their registrations (or, sadly, have never bothered to register and need some convincing that their vote could really really really make a difference). As I stood in front of a coffee shop, making my pitch, I saw a disheveled man watching me. On impulse, I went up and asked him if he was registered to vote. He said he couldn’t vote, he was homeless. Armed with my training, I asked if he had an address where he could get mail. He said yes, his mother’s. But he said his ID had been stolen while he was sleeping at the shelter and didn’t know how to get a new one. But he did know his Social Security number. I told him that was all he needed. And that he could register the shelter as his living address and his mother’s as his mailing address. So he registered. And I went back to tracking down more signups. Then I heard a voice from around the corner: “Hey, man, are you registered to vote? Don’t’ be a jerk, go talk to the lady around the corner and do it!” I realized I had acquired a GOTV volunteer. When I finished my stint, about an hour and a half later, I went around the corner (he was still there, sending people my way) to thank him. He smiled and said, “No, I need to thank you. I was planning to kill myself today, because I didn’t see how I was any use to anyone. But now I’m a voter.” I hugged him and said he’d made my day.
So…go make a difference. You may not actually save a life, but you’ll do your bit to help save our country from apathy and nihilism. Do it.