Is Voting Important?

Voting is a very crucial component of determining what can and can’t happen in your life. When people hear about voting, most people think, “Eh, I’m just one person, what can I do alone?”, when they should be thinking “The fact that I’m one more person means that I can change what laws there are and things like who’ll be in office”. Voting is an individual act, but it’s also one of the most powerful things we can do, something that we get to decide without others forcing us to do what they want, and if need be, others don’t even get to know who/what you voted for if you don’t want them knowing.

In places like Australia, you will get fined if you don’t vote unless you have a valid reason not to. Every time you don’t vote, your fines get higher and higher to a point where you will end up being arrested, and I think this is actually a very good thing. What Australia is doing is forcing its people to use their voice, not deprive it, not hide it, but do what they think will be best for their future and others as well. Even if you don’t want to vote, you will and you will end up having to think about what you can do with your vote and who deserves it.

Many people know the power of voting, don’t vote, and then get angry when a law gets either passed or denied and/or when someone they didn’t want gets into office. America should make compulsory voting legal in the US because this would not only benefit the country as a whole with many new voters, but this would also make it so that politicians are forced to also address poorer communities and areas that have problems that are ignored. 

An instance in which voting could’ve changed something so dramatic in the USA was when Donald Trump got elected. Out of the entire population, only 58.1% of the eligible voting population voted. Now just think about the other 41.9%, if they voted, Trump could’ve still won, or he could’ve lost. The fact that millions of Americans never voted though, means we’ll never know, and that many didn’t use their voice. Even if you’re doubtful about whether you’re doing the right thing or not, if you can, vote, at least you did something instead of nothing, and you could also learn from it for the better good.

People need to know that even as an individual person with just one vote, they are still incredibly powerful, and can do a lot. They’re not the only ones who think the way they do, and if people vote, they might feel like an individual who isn’t doing anything, but so are many millions just like them who took the initiative to vote. 

Voting can change so many things in a country, especially in places like America, where we have a Democratic Republic, a Constitution, and the Bill of Rights to protect our voices and our freedoms. Fighting for them and voting will keep them in place, change them, and with many new things being introduced, make a better tomorrow.

Citations

Bureau, US Census. “Voting in America: A Look at the 2016 Presidential Election.” The United States Census Bureau, 10 May 2017, www.census.gov/newsroom/blogs/random-samplings/2017/05/voting_in_america.html.

“Compulsory Voting.” International IDEA, 2020, www.idea.int/data-tools/data/voter-turnout/compulsory-voting.

“Failure to Vote.” Western Australian Electoral Commission, www.elections.wa.gov.au/vote/failure-vote.

“Library Guides: Post-Election 2016 Recap & Resources: Voter Turnout.” Voter Turnout - Post-Election 2016 Recap & Resources - Library Guides at Penn State University, 14 Aug. 2020, guides.libraries.psu.edu/post-election-2016/voter-turnout.

National Geographic Society. “Why Voting Is Important.” National Geographic Society, 17 Mar. 2020, www.nationalgeographic.org/article/why-voting-important/.