Breaking News
More () »

The right to vote is very personal for Houston woman

Annie Johnson Benifield's says her father served in WWII, but didn't have the right to vote.





“My dad was drafted in World War II where he had no say, he had no ability to advocate for himself, to cast a ballot to select a political leader,” Johnson Benifield said. “to determine his faith and we were fighting for freedom and democracy around the world. At least that's the avocation that that's what was happening. But at the same time, he had no say in that process. And then as a 50 plus-year-old man, he was born in 1912, he didn't get a chance to cast a ballot until the 1968 presidential election, in direct response to the Voting Rights Act of 1965.”





“Seeing tremendous change happen in our society as a result of people getting the right to vote in terms of participating in the political process,” Johnson Benifield said. “That's saying you have a say, you know, you can't really complain if you don't put something into the process. And voting is one way, it's the most visual way in which people can actually participate. It's the most common form of political participation is the way the government receives this legitimacy in terms of casting a ballot. You're willfully giving your consent to the people you're representing to make decisions about government and politics. And so that is tremendous in itself.”

The deadline for voter registration in October 5.


