Voting
A right and a responsibility
Voting is a fundamental right and responsibility of U.S. citizens—the right to have a say in how they are governed and the responsibility to be informed about
candidates and issues when they go to the polls.
The United States was founded, in large part, on the desire of its people to participate in the decisions of their government. Surprisingly, perhaps, the U.S. Constitution itself did not address the right to vote or who was eligible to participate. The prevailing view when the Constitution was written in 1787 was that only white men who owned property were qualified to vote, because they had an interest in preserving society to protect their wealth and because they had the independence and education to decide important political matters.
Fortunately, times change. By the mid–19th century, property requirements were dismantled and virtually all adult white males were able to vote. Soon after, the United States engaged in the Civil War (1861–1865) over the right of states to allow slavery within their borders. The Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution abolished slavery in 1865; the Fourteenth Amendment in 1868 guaranteed “equal protection of the laws” to all citizens and established the voting age as 21 years; and the Fifteenth Amendment in 1870 stated that no citizen should be denied the right to vote “on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”
This was progress, but half of the U.S. population still could not vote: women. Agitation for universal suffrage began in the mid-19th century, but the turning point came when the United States entered World War I in 1917. How could the United States fight for democracy overseas while denying it to half the population at home? Obviously, it could not, and the Nineteenth Amendment granted women the right to vote in 1920.
In the mid-20th century, another foreign conflict led to expansion of the franchise. Thousands of young Americans fought in the Vietnam War, many of them teenagers. They were old enough to fight for their country, yet not old enough to vote. Public outcry and political will led to passage of the Twenty-sixth Amendment, granting the vote to 18, 19, and 20 year olds in 1971.
In spite of the many struggles to guarantee all citizens the right to vote, the percentage of Americans who exercise that right declined during the second half of the 20th century. No single reason explains this trend. Some citizens may feel that their single vote does not make a difference; some may lose interest in campaigns run primarily through the media. Others may simply be too busy to go to the polls every time there is an election. Americans vote for every political office from school board member to state legislator to congressional representative to president of the United States, as well as on a host of state and local matters. Often, citizens are asked to vote on something several times in one year. The challenge of citizenship is to get to know the candidates and to understand the issues in order to vote responsibly.
The presidential election of 2008 demonstrated the enormous influence young people can bring to the democratic process when a cause or a candidate energizes them.
All across the United States, young people of diverse backgrounds volunteered tirelessly for Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain.
Political activity was one of the hottest campus trends at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) in 2008, and a variety of groups, some with competing agendas, worked day and night to win support from fellow students. Their combined efforts resulted in an on-campus voter turnout rate of almost 90 percent, according to an estimate by Penn Leads the Vote, exceeding the nation’s average turnout by nearly 30 percent.
“In recent history, there’s been a tendency to ignore youth,” said Annassa Corley, president of Penn Leads the Vote. “We have really turned that around and shown it is possible to engage youth.”
Even groups with an avowed agenda wanted young people to recognize their eligibility and make the trip to the polls, no matter who they supported. “Whether you voted for McCain or Obama,” said Mike Stratton, co-president of Penn for Obama,
“ the key is that you voted—that you participated, that you showed your civic duty, and that you used your vote to help change America.”
