We Have The Right To Voting In The United States

I am going to be honest. Generally speaking, I have never been a very political person. When I was younger I didn’t care much about politics and up until a year or two ago the most I knew about politics was a basic idea of the ideas of each party, their symbols, that our president is a democrat, and that there’s a presidential election every four years. But, in the past year that has changed a lot. I turned eighteen, and eighteen is the year, the year we become adults, and the year us new adults gain the right to vote. Gaining this authority gives you a feeling that you don’t quite get when you get your license, or your first job at sixteen. So imagine my initial disappointment when the first election I get to vote in involves Donald Trump. But, as I have experienced the campaign in the past year, that disappointment dissolved and I knew I wanted to share what I picked up on.

Abraham Lincoln said, “Elections belong to the people. It's their decision. If they decide to turn their back on the fire and burn their behinds, then they will just have to sit on their blisters.” Voting is our “civic duty” and this speaks to the idea that the future is ours, so we need to play a part in shaping it. Voting is our chance to do something to benefit our society through the democratic process, but it doesn’t stop there.

Tensions and emotions are running high, and some days it feels like the United States may be on the brink of a Civil War. Millions of constituents are furious as the turn of events that have taken place, and they feel as though the electoral system has slighted them. Despite all the progress that has been made for democracy over the past century, the country seems to be moving backwards. In 2013, the Voting Rights Act was gutted, allowing for the voter ID laws to take hold. During this year’s election, the impact of voter suppression has had a staggering effect on the results.

Since the United States of America established itself as its own self-governing country, one of the things that caused it to be salient and stand out from other countries is its relentless insistence on functioning as a democracy. Wars and protests have occurred so that every type of people, whether it was women or African Americans, may be granted the right to vote. Having a say in the American government is an honor and a privilege bestowed upon American citizens when they reach the age of eighteen. However, in recent years, statistics have shown that voter turnout and participation in recent elections has been rapidly and steadily declining, causing the United States to have the lowest voter participation in the world (“Is the System

Who our next leader is can rely on the voice of only one person. Before America was born we didn't have a say in who our next leaders would be. The king was the king no matter what the people thought about him. Since then things have changed. Therefore, all Americans should vote because we need to exercise our right to vote, our leaders have a direct impact on our lives and, because if you took no part in helping to decide who our next elected officials will be you have no right to complain about who it is.

As citizens, all Americans are given certain unalienable rights- the right to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. America has not always lived up to these standards of equality for all citizens. In fact, some U.S. citizens have and continue to go through quite a lot of trouble to gain equality, specifically in the voting rights department.

Living in a nation based on democracy, where a citizen’s voice is the equivalent of casting a vote in political elections, the majority of American citizens eligible to vote do not participate in elections. The rationale behind voter non-participation varies among individuals and demographic groups; however, they all share a connection regarding their feelings towards their treatment by the country's political system. Minority voters such as blacks and hispanics are a demographic group highly faced with disenfranchisement in regards to political elections due to oppression. North Carolina’s Voter ID laws are a prime example of how minority voters are being shut out.

During his keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in 2004, Barack Obama observed that there was not a red America or a blue America, but a United States of America. Such sentiment implied that every citizen, hailing from all fifty states, shares a common set of principles and rights that distinctly marks him or her as a member of this nation. Although unmentioned during that landmark speech, one may assume that universal suffrage is one such right that all Americans share, binding our diverse nation together. However, although voter intimidation and violence is much less prevalent within America as it was in the past, disenfranchisement remains a reality as a result of partisan manipulation of election-administration laws. As

Since the establishment of our great country, Americans utilized the ballot box as a freedom of expression. Voting is a basic right that many of us take for granted, some even viewing it as a “God given right.” As citizens, we expect the right to vote. Many oblivious to the fact that voting is a privilege that can be revoked. The process, commonly referred to as disenfranchisement, is the principle reason for my summary. Today more than ever, one of America's post-election concerns is voter turnout. Usually, the numbers are bleak, especially during local elections. As a society, we cannot afford to turn our back on one of the pillars of a democracy. If elected officials are to represent segments of voters, then people from all

Being able to cast my first vote in the 21st century is a privilege. My generation needs to accept their patriotic responsibility and vote because many reforms are needed in order to carry us into the new millennium. Voting reforms are necessary to inspire political participation for other modifications and adjustments needed in areas such as health care, education, and Social Security, all which we as young people will face in the future. Participation in elections is necessary to facilitate and enable progress, but our present day system of voting is expiring by frustrated Americans.

In the United State there are 5.6 million people serving their time behind bars with many of their rights stripped away. Among these rights is the right to vote. Is this a right that the states can remove? This fact brings to light three main questions. First, do American inmates have the right to vote under American laws or the Constitution? Second, how would allowing inmates to vote change the face of elections? Finally, should inmates have the right to vote based on ethical premises? Today, we will attempt to answer these questions.

Suffrage is most important right granted to an American citizen, but the road to provide suffrage for all Americans was a lengthy one. Early in America’s history, only property-owning white men could vote. After the Civil War, the Fifteenth Amendment prohibited “the denial of the right to vote based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude” (Cornell). Only in the last century did the Nineteenth Amendment give women the right to vote. Now, all American citizens can express their opinion on matters of the state and nation. Take the most recent presidential election for example. The Democrats and Republicans are the two main parties, Clinton representing the Democrats and Trump representing the Republicans. On November 8, Americans voted, and Donald Trump will become the next U.S. President. But recall the 2012 election, where “only fifty-three percent of eligible voters actually casted ballots—that is 129 million people out of a potential 241 million citizens taking place in the election” (PBS). These statistics show that more than half of the American population did not care about their future or the future of the next generation. Ironically, many citizens who do not vote become the same citizens who complain about the state of their nation. These Americans do not fulfill their responsibility to choose leaders who will ensure that the same freedoms they experience today will be the same freedoms their great grandchildren will have years later. Americans must utilize this right to vote to preserve the freedoms they

Democracy has always been one of America’s most treasured assets. We have the opportunity to vote for whomever we want, regardless of race, gender, or party. We have the right to say what we feel and even take discourse upon that action. However, it is important to realize that the institution of voting is not as perfect as it seems. There are several problems, that when looked at closely, expose the flaws in our system. This is what I observed when I went poll watching at early voting polling places during the 2016 presidential election. As I was watching different people come to vote, I saw how problems which seemed trivial in the moment could actually pose serious threats.

Voting has not always been as easy as it is today. It is interesting to examine how far America has progressed in its process of allowing different types of people to be able to vote. Voting was once aimed at a particular group of people, which were white males that owned their own property. Today, most people over the age of eighteen can vote, except for the mentally incompetent or people who have been convicted of major felonies in some states. The decline of voter participation has always been a debate in the public arena. According to McDonald and Popkin, it is “the most important, most familiar, most analyzed, and most conjectured trend in recent American political history (2001, 963)” The question is, how important is voter

Young adults in current times have grown up with many rights that have not always been considered a right but instead a privilege. Voting is one of these rights that was once only considered a privilege, eligible for a particular gender and ethnicity. For many years this meant that the only group of people allowed to vote were white males. Today, things are different and everyone has the choice to vote after they reach the age of eighteen. The right to vote is a powerful right that we must take advantage of because not every country is lucky enough to have a say in their government. Today, in America we have the opportunity to decide if we would like to vote or not. Many Americans take pride in this right as it is considered a civic duty that has not always been eligible to everyone.