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Essay on Voting should be an obligation not a choice

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Voting should be an obligation not an option

Living in America gives each person individual freedom. The freedom is yours to express your own opinion and to vote. Whether or not we choose to exercise these rights is the decision that every American citizen makes. Participating in our government is the single most important power that we as Americans have. Whether it is to elect officials or to amend a law, voting is not only a necessity, but a responsibility. It is frightening how many of us today have closed ourselves off from the so-vital process of learning about candidates for office and making our voting selections based on actual information (as opposed to sound bites and attack ads) and/or not voting at all.

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Currently, there are 17 states allowing certain elections to be held by mail. As of today, there are 27 states that offer "no-excuse" absentee voting, allowing any registered voter to request an absentee ballot without requiring that the voter state a reason for his/her desire to vote absentee. (Wendy Underhill)

If you are not going to participate in electing the officials, then you should not have the opportunity or privilege in criticizing how they do their job. Some people argue that non-voters do not vote because they are happy with the government. This does not seem to be the case. The 1996 National Election Study showed that nonvoters were less positive than voters.

There are a variety of characteristics between nonvoters and voters. Citizens with a college degree are more likely to vote than people without a college degree. Older people are also more likely than younger people to vote. Polls show that young people are more dissatisfied with the government than older citizens are. Then why don’t younger people vote? Some do not vote because they do not know who to vote for. A quarter of nonvoter’s will lie on polls saying that they did vote. If you are going to be ashamed by not voting and afraid to tell someone why, then you should vote. It is very simple. Democracy is starting to be weakened by low turnout at the polls. Steps need to be taken to help

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