Among the most enduring memories of my life are the scenes in the news in 1994 of Black South Africans patiently standing in long lines to vote for the first time in their lives, after the end of the apartheid regime. Like many things in life, the right to vote is sometimes truly valued only when it is at risk of not being available.
30 million Americans have already voted, five times the number of ballots cast by this date in the last presidential election -- are you among them?
Every vote counts: it was as recently as the 2000 election that the Presidency was determined by 537 votes out of six million cast in Florida.
This may well be the most important election in our lifetimes: many issues we care about are on the ballot at every level. The Senate is hastily confirming a nominee who is eager to decimate the separation of religion and government. Even as we are in the middle of a pandemic, the rightful role of science in policy is more at risk every day. And gerrymandering in the states threatens our right to fair representation.
So, I urge you--if you haven’t already done so--please make a plan to vote and implement it. Don’t stop there: do the best you can to get friends and family, especially younger Americans, to do the same.
1. Make a voting plan: The American Humanist Association is a proud partner of the Secular America Votes Campaign, which can help you register, request your ballot, find your polling location, and more.
2. Learn what’s on your ballot by using the League of Women Voters’ online tool.
3. Vote as soon as you can, on, or before November 3.
Our responsibility to vote is an integral part of our responsibility as humanists for our lives and the kind of world in which we want to live.
I hope you will join me in casting a ballot this year.
