Your vote counts!

  • Published
  • By Capt. Rick Alford
  • 386th Air Expeditionary Wing staff judge advocate
SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFPN) --  Voting is one of the most important things a member of a democratic republic can do. The United States has a long history of voting, starting on Sept. 17, 1787, when the U.S. Constitution was adopted and the founding fathers set in place the process we now use to elect our country's presidents.

The first presidential election was held in 1789 when the Electoral College unanimously elected George Washington as president. During the 1820s and 1830s a number of states joined the union, each with its own constitution and most with limitations that prevented women and men of any race other than white from voting.

Women such as Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Stanton formed groups that argued for women's rights in 1840. These groups took root and grew. In 1848, the Women's Rights Convention was held in Seneca Falls, N.Y., where the attendees agreed that women should have opportunities to go to college, become doctors and lawyers, own land and vote.

As immigrants continued to flood to America, a new political group called the Know-Nothings was formed in 1850. This group at its heart was anti-immigrant. In an effort to prevent immigrants from voting, this group pushed for literacy tests because at the time most immigrants and African-Americans were illiterate.

Congress passed its next big piece of legislation in 1866 known as the 14th Amendment in an attempt to protect U.S. male residents who were at least 21 years of age from voting obstacles. Susan B. Anthony, who was already in the public eye by this time, also founded the American Equal Rights Association in 1866 with Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

In 1869 Congress passed the 15th Amendment granting the right to vote to all men regardless of race, color or previous servitude. However, while advancing the right to vote for minorities, this amendment specifically prohibited women from voting. In 1872 Ms. Stanton attempted to vote in direct violation of the 15th Amendment and was arrested.

A few years later in 1878 a constitutional amendment, later known as the 19th Amendment, was introduced to Congress to grant women the right to vote. It finally passed in 1920. The 24th Amendment was passed in 1964 preventing the use of poll taxes to keep minorities from voting.

In 1965, the Voting Rights Act was signed by Lyndon B. Johnson, which prohibited the use of literacy tests and complicated ballot boxes. Finally in 1971, the 26th Amendment was signed lowering the minimum voting age from 21 to 18. 

You may be asking yourself why I took the time to let you in on a little history behind your right to vote. The answer is simple. Your right to vote was procured through a long history of war, civil war and civil atrocities. Men and women of every race, nationality and ethnic origin stood on the firm belief that every person has a right to have their voice heard. As a citizen of the United States, you not only have a right to vote, you have a responsibility to vote, to have your opinions heard, and to set this country on its next course. Your voice will only be heard if you vote.

We hear, almost on a daily basis, people complaining about where the country is headed, that they disagree with current administration policy, or that Congress is unable to pass meaningful legislation. However, a majority of U.S. citizens fail to vote and, in my opinion, lose their right to complain. If you don't cast a ballot, your voice will not be heard.

Get out and vote. It's your responsibility. It's your right.