Select an issue concerning voting rights or practices and briefly tell us your thoughts about it.
“I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do, because I notice it always coincides with their own desires.” —Susan B. Anthony
In this enlightened day and age, it’s hard to believe that women were first granted the right to vote only a little more than 100 years ago—a right that only came to them after many years of heartache and struggle. In our own lives, 100 years can seem like a long time, but when viewed over the course of human history, it’s merely the blink of an eye. In that short period of time—that blink of history—we have gone from women being unable to vote to a woman serving as Vice President of the United States.
I believe there are two important lessons to take from this:
First, democracy is worth fighting for. The fight for women’s suffrage in America first began in the early 19th century, beginning with the broader movement for women’s rights. No one at the time who could vote—men, in other words—lobbied for women in any significant way or handed them rights they didn’t have. Instead, women themselves had to organize, campaign, speak out, and relentlessly battle for what they knew they were entitled to. Even then, the road would be long. The first suffrage organizations were established in 1869, and it would take more than 50 years for the demands of the early activists to become a reality.
The lesson for us is to remember that even in a democracy, where human rights are supposed to take center stage, people must still be visionaries and be willing to make incredible sacrifices. Rights are not usually given to people freely. Instead, they must be fought for, often over many years. This is something we should never forget as we look at the rights we have today and think about the rights we believe we should have tomorrow.
Second, democracy must never be taken for granted. As I write this essay, people in power all over the United States are still trying try to prevent a citizen’s right to vote. In a recent example, when Wisconsin tried to hold a presidential primary during the pandemic, officials in Milwaukee opened just five polling places for a city of more than half a million people. According to one study, this decision made access to polling places incredibly difficult and led to very long lines, reducing turnout by more than 8 percent. The figure was more than 10 percent among people of color, many of whom worked blue-collar jobs and could not afford to take a day off work to stand all day in long lines.
The point is that powerful people continue to look for ways to suppress the vote among voting populations they find undesirable, or to overturn elections when the results don’t go their way. We can make a difference if we remember the lessons of the past. Rights others have fought for can be suppressed or taken away if we don’t do our part to preserve them and honor the legacy and sacrifice of those voting rights pioneers who came before us.