UNITED STATES—I know I’m not the only person who has been inundated with the political ads right now. Yes, they are all over the place, out in public, on the radio, in print and worst of all on TV. Yes, the 2024 General Election is going to be a contentious one to say the least and gosh one could hope the political rhetoric gets better not worse. With that said, this column is more about voting because I have heard plenty of individuals say they have no plans to vote in 2024 because they don’t like the candidates.

I can understand that, but by not voting you’re not allowing your voice to be heard. I will admit it seems like once President Joe Biden announced he was not seeking re-election there was this fervor of energy from Democrats and a bit of excitement on the political landscape. Whether it’s that Biden is out, and Kamala is in, I could not give you that answer.

However, a vote is a vote, and you might think a single vote doesn’t matter or have any impact, but it does. The United States is a democracy and votes matter, yes, we can talk about the Electoral College all day and that is another tale that I could not put into single words in one column, I might need two to three columns to fully evaluate.

With that said, I vote because I feel like it is indeed my civic duty to do so. If I did not vote I feel guilty and I have told myself the only way I would not vote is if my dying body would not allow me to vote. If I had to get an absentee ballot, I would ensure I voted because if I didn’t it would be a slap in the face to my grandparents and their parents who fought for me to have the right to vote as a minority.

People might not want to hear this, but the Civil Rights Act was not passed until the 1960s. That is about 60 years ago. At that time, being in the South was somewhat a dangerous thing for African Americans. People were being lynched, beaten, murdered, simply because they were attempting to vote, it was a right bestowed on them and they were given that opportunity to do it.

Oh, people are going to say here we go talking about race again, but the reality is America has always had an ugly stain when it comes to racism. We can try to act like race doesn’t matter or exists, but that would be a lie, it does. My grandmother and grandfather shared stories with me about their parents who were born in Alabama not being able to vote when they were of age.

When they did try to vote they were met with hostility from their White counterparts, heckling them, beating them, being sprayed with fire hoses, attacked by dogs, beaten by the police. The tales sound horrible, but then I think, well I don’t have to deal with that. So, what is my excuse if I don’t vote? That is the thing I have no excuse. I don’t have to worry about being beaten by the police, sprayed with a firehose, worried about a police dog biting me or being beaten by the police because I’m trying to enact my right as an American to vote.

Being tired, being lazy, being busy, is not an excuse for me to not vote. If I don’t vote, I’m telling my grandparents and their parents and their parents who fought to be able to vote and those who never got the chance to vote that what they fought for didn’t matter to me. It boils my blood when people say they will not vote or that they have never voted in their life and they’re like in their 50s. Like what?! That is not something to be proud about.

I remember when I turned 18, I couldn’t wait to vote for the first time, now does it suck because it feels like that was directly connected to me being called for jury duty nearly every year on the local, state and federal level? Yes, but that is life. Some people just consider the notion of voting as a nuisance and I say to those people, what if I told you that you can no longer vote. You can no longer have your voice be heard; how would you react to that? Think about that America, think about that!

Written By Davy Jones