Mark Ritchie, the Secretary of State, was at
Augsburg recently to talk about our democracy. He spoke about the importance of
voting and the pride we as Minnesotans take in our election system. Minnesota
has the highest voter turnout in the country, 5% higher than the next state.
We’re pretty awesome like that. But Ritchie encouraged us to do better, “We’re
number one in the nation [in voter turnout]. We should take great pride in
that… but we can do better”. And we can. Even though we’re awesome, in the last
presidential election one MILLION eligible Minnesotan voters did not vote.
Now I don’t want anyone to use this as an excuse. It
would probably kill me if I heard someone say “if one million Minnesotans
don’t vote, I don’t have to either”. No. Go vote, seriously. I’ll tell you why.
As cliché as it may be, many people fought long and hard for your right to
vote. You may have heard of this thing called Women’s Suffrage or the long
battle to enact what is now our 15th amendment.
Mark Ritchie told a story of voters in Minnesota,
when there was a law stating that Native American men who owned property could
vote if they wore pants. Literally. Voting was so important to these men that
they had a communal pair of pants outside the polling station. One would put
them on, go in and vote, and then return the pants for the next person to wear.
We have it pretty easy today.
Pants aside, you probably already knew about the
fight for the right to vote. What you may not think about is how much work our
government has put into the system to allow you to vote. Minnesota was the
first state to enact same day registration which results in a 7-9% increase in
voter turnout each election. We put in place absentee balloting after there was
a blizzard on Election Day and people who lived nearly 80 miles away from the
polling place couldn’t vote. We made polling places handicap accessible for
those with physical disabilities. We were the first state to approve an
amendment to our constitution making the legal voting age 18, not 21, so that
people like YOU could vote. People fought long and hard to gain the right to
vote, we worked long and hard to perfect our voting system, and yet too
many people are too lazy to go use this amazing right granted to us.
Our election system, as great as it may be, is under
attack. The Voter ID amendment will set our right to vote back yet again. And
guess who’s fighting for our right to vote this time? The mind-blowingly epic
students of MPIRG. Years later, someone may be writing something exactly like
this, talking about how WE fought for our election system, and that’s what
energizes me to organize. Vote No, keep our election system remarkable and
protect our right to vote.
But the only way to help protect our election system
and our rights is to GET OUT AND VOTE. People have fought, people have shared
pants, and we’re fighting again now. Not
only will we, will YOU, be choosing the next president of the United States,
but you will also be deciding the fate of two very important constitutional
amendments, the Marriage and the Voter ID amendment. That’s why you’re going to
get out and vote this November 6th.
Do it for those who battled for our right, and who continue to battle
today.
BreAnna Bemboom, Augsburg MPIRG State
Board Rep
pictured: 'I Will Vote' temporary tattoos, from Augsburg's National Voter Registration Table
pictured: 'I Will Vote' temporary tattoos, from Augsburg's National Voter Registration Table
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