No matter what, make sure to vote

Davon Gray
Published: November 2, 2008

The other day, I heard something that was rather disturbing to me. 

I was at a meeting where a political expert predicted election turnouts to be in the high 60 percentage range. That troubled me for three reasons. 

For one things with all that our country is facing, our turnout should be well within the upper 80 percentage range. 

Second, with all the absentee and early voting mechanisms, voting is more accessible than ever before.  There is simply no excuse not to vote. 

And third, it seemed to me that the people in the audience thought the prediction was a high number and a good thing for the country.

So I started asking myself, “Why would anyone, with so much at stake in this election, stay at home?”  I mean seriously, regardless of which candidate you might be supporting, how could you think of
staying at home?

Hopefully when all is said and done, the percentages will be much higher than 60, but it brings us to a point of questioning whether convenience of voting is really the problem with apathy or is it the lack
of recognition of voting as a form of sacrifice?

I must admit, I early voted this year. However, I had the wrong motives in doing so. My only reason was for convenience. Sure I met the criteria of working 26 miles away from home and spending 12 hours
or more away from home a day when you factor in commuting and work time, but it was really about not wanting to stand in long lines on Election Day.

Now in retrospect, I will miss those long lines even though I plan to still be out at the polls as a poll watcher. 

But there is something special and good about Election Day. To me, it’s similar to inauguration day. 

No matter which candidate you voted for, inauguration day is an expression of the strength of American Democracy. Other nations bring about leadership changes through traumatic and violent actions.
All we are asked to do is show up at a booth and secretively cast a vote.

What a privilege!

That needs to be the attitude we have when voting and not that it is a matter of convenience or that it does not matter.

Truth be told, the only sacrifice I, or most of us, would have to face by voting is getting out of bed a little earlier or making one or two adjustments to our day. That is something we do anyways when we
have a doctor’s appointment or some special errand to run. 

But there have been times in American history when voting and sacrifice tragically went together. 

During the terrorizing days of Jim Crow laws in America, which included various forms of voter intimidation of Blacks, men and women risked their lives to vote. They registered people to vote and showed
up on Election Day, thus declaring that intimidation, oppression and segregation was not enough to keep them from voting. 

You may recall the time magazine picture of the Iraqi woman proudly showing off her ink soaked finger after voting. She, along with thousands of others, risked their lives to show defiance to insurgents
and terrorist by voting, but more importantly they showed defiance by showing up.

If black Americans showed up during Jim Crow, and men and women new to Democracy showed up despite terror threats in Iraq, surely we can make the sacrifice of an hour in line at the voting booth. 

I would be interested in hearing from anyone reading this column for whom this is your first time voting, regardless of political leanings. 

At the end of the day, our country is stronger when new voters get engaged in the process. This should be celebrated by everyone and make our politicians take note that they will need to reach out to
new voters in the future.

Davon Gray works in Washington, D.C., and resides in Woodbridge. Contact him at .