The Harry Potter Alliance

By Quinn Kess

August 28, 2012

Everybody’s Got the Right

We’ve all been hearing a lot lately about voting. Even here through the HPA, we’ve been promoting voting, making sure that people actually go out and register to vote. Wonderful. However, maybe we should step back for a moment and look at why this is a good idea.

First and foremost, I’m not going to be talking about ‘you should vote so those jerks don’t get elected’. The HPA is not a partisan organization, we do not support one candidate over another for any office. Even beyond that, voting is not just a right, it is a responsibility to vote according to your own conscience, not how someone else told you to vote. It is important for everyone to try and be educated about who their candidates are, and what each candidate stands for. If you’re uncertain about a candidate, The League of Women Voters (not just for women, guys, don’t worry!) is a non-partisan organization that puts out information about each candidate and what he or she stands for.

Second, voting is important, especially for women, I believe, because we haven’t had the right for very long! Ninety-two years in America, actually. The nineteenth amendment gave women the vote that they and their allies had been fighting so hard to win. I certainly wouldn’t want Ms. Pankhurst and Susan B. Anthony to haunt me from beyond the grave. On a more serious note, though, people throughout history have literally fought and died for the right to have a say in their government, and who are we to ignore that important fact?

Finally, every vote counts. You never know when you might have the one vote that puts someone over the edge. Ok, ok. I’ve heard it all from people. ‘Well, my vote would never count, I live in a solidly Party state, and I’m The Other Party.’ Well, trust me, everyone. It does count. Just this last election, one of the primary races in Connecticut was decided by one vote. One vote, people. One person who decided to get out and exercise their right. So, no matter how little you think your vote counts, it does. I also have read a survey in the past week that I will not link here because it is quite partisan. It indicated that if a majority of unregistered and unlikely voters (people who are registered, but do not actually vote) did vote, it would be significantly impact the outcome of the election.

Have I convinced you yet? Well, I hope so, because voting is one of the most impactful and important things that you can do in your life. So, please. Take my advice. Go to your town (or city or county) hall and register, make sure that you know where your polling place is, and above all, VOTE. Honestly, I don’t care who you vote for. I really don’t. I just care that the government we have all fought so hard for keeps moving along.

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