Preparing to Vote

There is now just one month to go until Election Day in the United States, and in some states early voting and mail-in voting has already begun. In others, deadlines to register to vote or make sure a voter registration is current and correct are approaching over the next few weeks. This means the time for all eligible voters to make sure they have a plan to vote is now! Any voter who isn’t enthusiastic about the ability to place a vote and have her say – in midterms and general elections, for local, state, and national leaders – is wasting an opportunity others have struggled and died for. Those of us who participated in and lived through the Civil Rights Movement know firsthand that the right to vote is something Black Americans were fighting and dying for not that long ago. Many of them could not have imagined, as Senator Robert Kennedy correctly predicted, that in a generation we would have our first Black president. In places around the world others are still struggling and sacrificing for a freedom some Americans now take for granted. We have a responsibility to those who could not vote and those who still can’t, including children, to make our own votes count.

Making a plan is especially urgent at a moment when some lawmakers are desperately trying to make it harder, not easier, for many citizens to vote. We cannot let that happen. We must fight any and all efforts to suppress our votes and must start by resolving to take every necessary step to cast a vote in every election, every race, every time. So please get informed right now. Find out what identification and documentation are needed to vote in your state. Check where your polling place is if you plan to vote in person, since it may have changed since the last election. If you are eligible to vote by mail, review the requirements for submitting your ballot very carefully. Make sure family members, friends, and neighbors are doing the same and all have a plan to vote too.

Be sure you are also making a plan for how you intend to fill out your ballot. Take the time now to learn about every candidate’s views, including state and local candidates, and the issues that will be on the ballot where you live. As candidates continue to ask for your support over these final few weeks listen especially carefully to how their plans and policies would affect children, young people, and families. As I wrote in The Measure of Our Success: A Letter to My Children and Yours, use your political power for others less fortunate. Vote and hold those you vote for accountable. In a democratic society, if we like or don’t like what our political leaders are doing, we must make that clear through our voices and our votes. And we cannot accomplish that by staying home.

Above all, remember: people who do not vote have no line of credit with people who are elected and thus pose no threat to those who act against their interests. Democracy is not a spectator sport. At a moment when many believe democracy and the equal right to vote remain on the line, prepare now to do your part and vote.

Marian Wright Edelman is founder and president emerita of the Children’s Defense Fund. For more information, go to childrensdefense.org.