WASHINGTON — Today is our National Voter Registration Day. A non-partisan civic holiday started in 2012 and celebrated yearly on the fourth Tuesday of September.
Upwards of 20,000 volunteers, partnering with a host of different organizations, both public and private, will be hitting the physical, digital and media streets across the nation Tuesday, registering and educating as many new, and returning voters as they can.
With the threat of COVID-19 still hanging over us, and the naked partisanship we’ve seen concerning voting and voting rights, these efforts today are vital.
Voting is one of the key elements of citizenship.
John Lewis called it “the most powerful, nonviolent tool we have to create a more perfect union”.
A tool seen as so powerful that for a long period of our nation’s history its use was restricted to a small few. It wasn’t until the passage of the 15th amendment in 1869 and the 19th in 1920 that every citizen was given their power. At least on paper. As we all know, certain communities were barred from voting. Stayed from exercising their constitutionally given right by unsolvable tests and sustained terror campaigns. It took people marching in the streets, staring terror in the face, to get the Voting Rights Act passed in 1965. Power now fully realized.
The Voting Rights Act afforded fair and equal access to the ballot box until 2013 when the supreme court, led by Chief Justice Roberts gutted the act, stripping away key protections. The decision leading to one of Justice Ginsburg’s more famous dissensions. Since then we’ve seen the reemergence of voter suppression tactics.
Dr. King said, "So long as I do not firmly and irrevocably possess the right to vote I do not possess myself,” telling us that if we don't raise our voices by voting, then we’re at the mercy of others.
This is the day of the year reserved for citizens to find their voice and learn where and how to use it. If you have any questions about the status of your voice, or if you want to get information to help others with theirs, click here.
In 42 days, we go to the polls. It's there that we get a chance to have our voices be heard. Where we can be part of shaping the democracy, we live in. Find your power and exercise it. It's your right.