Why We Should Have The Right To Vote

“Why should I vote?” Many proud Americans are asking this question as election day nears. “Why should I take time out of my busy day to stand in line to vote when my vote hardly matters? Voting is a waste of money and hardly worth my time. The electoral college gets the final say on who wins anyway. The candidates are awful and besides I’m just too busy to vote.” Enough with the excuses! The right to vote is a privilege and should be exercised with willingness and appreciation. Many people fought long and hard to earn the right to vote and this privilege allows our voices to be heard, provides an accurate representation of democracy, and is a tool to help candidates clearly hear the views of the people they are elected to serve.
To begin, there was a time in our history when women did not have the right to vote. Suffrage leader, Lucy Burns (1879-1966), was imprisoned at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia, in 1917 after she and others were arrested for picketing the White House in support of a federal amendment granting women to vote. The right to vote wasn’t handed to women it, it had to be fought for. On election day 1920, millions of American women enjoyed the right to vote for the first time. These women along with others fought for the right for all women to vote and therefore it is our responsibility to exercise …show more content…
Every vote does count; it just counts in a more complicated way in the presidential election. When we vote for president, we’re actually voting in a state election, not a national election. This means in Wisconsin, our votes count just as much as everyone’s within the state. The outcome of the popular vote in each state determines a slate of electors when then, in turn make the actual choice of president. While the electoral college gets the final say on the choice for president, everyone's vote contributes to the