Tuesday, April 26 is Voting Day for the Pennsylvania Republican and Democratic primaries. For those of you registered to vote (the deadline was a month ago, and if you have not already, make sure to register for the general election) it is the time of year, where we get to decide who runs in November. Of course, the presidential primary elections are national news, but Pennsylvanians also have the ability to vote for US Senate, where Pat Toomey is running for re-elect on the Republican ticket, and John Fetterman, Katie McGinty, and Joe Sestak are each running for the Democratic ticket. There are also several state and local elections happening.
This article is not supposed to be me telling you how to vote, but that you must vote if you can.
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It was a novel, bold idea the Framers of the Constitution set down, that every two years we the people would be allowed to overthrow the government. Of course, they only intended this power to be used in regards to the House of Representative, but since the passage of the 17th Amendment in 1913 we have had the power in the Senate as well. As for the presidency, even though we still use the electoral college, since the Jacksonian era vox populi has been alive and well in choosing the president.
We learned about voting in school, we know that it is important, we recognize the impact it makes on society, yet why does America have one of the worst voter turnout rates in the industrialized world? In the 2012 presidential election, only 54.87 percent of people of voting age voted. This is pitiful. When only one in two people vote the election results are unlikely to represent the true feelings of the population. This is evident: Think of your group of friends, if half want pizza and half want Chinese and only half of the people vote, most of them wanting pizza, then you get pizza, even though the group is split fifty-fifty. If you were in the Chinese group you would want your voice to be heard, and take issue if it was not. Why then are we complacent in purposefully remaining silent? As I said before, we are given the right, not just the privilege, of overthrowing the government, and are refusing to exercise that right.
There are two quotes I would like to bring up that should stick in your minds as you think about casting a ballot on Tuesday.
“The hottest places in Hell are reserved for those who in time of moral crisis preserve their neutrality.” - John F Kennedy.
“Decisions are made by those who show up.” - Aaron Sorkin. These two quotes guide me when I vote. I realize that no candidate will ever hold one hundred percent of my values and beliefs, but I know that if I do not vote, then my values and beliefs will never be heard.
I hope you all have a good time voting on Tuesday (polls open at 7 am and close at 8 pm), and remember that one vote makes a difference.
