COMMENTARY: Voting, the cornerstone of democracy

  • Published
  • By Maj Mark VanderKinter
  • Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center
KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, New Mexico --  The November general election is coming faster than you know. In less than 70 days, millions of Americans will have the opportunity to vote for a new president, vice president and almost 500 federal representatives.

Yet, many Americans will not even vote because they feel their vote will not make a difference in the overall election. During the last presidential election in 2004, only 64 percent of Americans voted.

President Bush finished with just over 3 million more popular votes than John Kerry. Do you think the result would have been different if the other 100 million Americans had chosen to vote?
The rules for voting eligibility have changed substantially since America's founding, and continue to change today.

Some of the landmark events and changes:

· On Sept. 17, 1787, our founding fathers set in place our election process when they adopted the U.S. Constitution. The first presidential election was held in 1789 when the Electoral College unanimously elected George Washington as president. Over the next couple of decades, many states joined the union, each with their own constitutions and most with limitations that prevented women and men of any race other than white from voting.

· The 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution were passed following the Civil War, in the late 1860s. They outlawed slavery and extended civil rights and suffrage (voting rights) to former slaves. The legal right to vote for African-Americans was established, but numerous restrictions kept many from actually voting until the 1960s Voting Rights Act.

· The 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote in 1920. This amendment resulted from an international movement of "suffragettes."

· The 24th Amendment was passed in 1964 preventing the use of poll taxes to keep minorities from voting.

· The 26th Amendment lowered the voting age from 21 to 18. This occurred in 1971, amid the Vietnam War, when 18-year-olds were routinely drafted and sent to war without the right to vote. 

Why the history lesson on voting? Voting is one of the most important things a member of democratic republic can do. The United States have had a long history of war, civil war and civil atrocities because men and women have stood their ground and held firm to the belief that every person has a right to be heard. In today's world where citizens of many nations are fighting and dying for their right to choose their elected officials as we do in the United States, nearly half of our citizens in 2004 felt it was an unnecessary burden.

Do not be a person who sits idly on the sidelines and complains about the direction our country is headed or the policies enacted by our elected officials. In my opinion, unless you vote, you forfeit the right to complain.

So why should you vote? It is your right, privilege and responsibility as an American to ensure your voice is heard.