Why Does Your Vote Matter?

Wish I Voted




I’ve been wondering: why does government matter? I have been reading studies about folks who choose not to vote in elections, and I am struck by the notion that many eligible voters truly believe that government is unimportant. Some believe that their vote will not help to implement big picture change. As you consider whether or not you will vote in the upcoming midterm elections this year, on Tuesday, November 6, please consider whether your vote matters. While a single vote may feel insignificant, your vote, along with those who are like minded surrounding issues that you believe are important, will surely make a difference.

Who needs your vote? To whom and to what does it matter?

Your vote matters to your children, for whom you are a voice.
Your vote matters to your grandchildren, for whom your vote will matter in ten, twenty, thirty years.
Your vote matters to children, who want to see integrity in the eyes of their government leaders.
Your vote matters to the disabled, to the Special Education students sitting in the classroom in the school around the corner.
Your vote matters to students, who want to be educated safely and fairly across socioeconomic lines.
Your vote matters to teachers, who want to educate your children and be given the tools necessary to meet that need.

Your vote matters to minorities, to Asians and blacks and all others whose voices cry out, “Hear me!”
Your vote matters to the women and girls in your life, who are your equals.
Your vote matters to your gay, lesbian, and transgender family members and colleagues, who want to be accepted.
Your vote matters to your Muslim co-worker and her family, who would love to be invited to have a seat at your table.

Your vote matters to the poor, striving to make it.
Your vote matters to the immigrant, striving to belong.
Your vote matters to the refugee, striving to feel welcome.
Your vote matters to the mother at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Your vote matters to the child of that mother.
Your vote matters to the wife of the refugee who still lives in Africa and would like to join her husband.
Your vote matters to the Dreamers, many of whom desire an honorable path to citizenship and a bright future.

Your vote matters to the air we breathe.
Your vote matters to the air our children and grandchildren will be breathing in fifty and one hundred years.
Your vote matters to the National Parks and to our protected lands.

Your vote matters to all who have been sexually assaulted, who need your loving care and the resources that will help to heal their broken hearts.
Your vote matters to the responsible gun owner, who wishes that semiautomatic weapons and bump stocks would be prohibited.
Your vote matters to the families and friends of children killed in school shootings.
Your vote matters to the memory of those dear ones who have been killed in their homes and on the streets of our cities.
Your vote matters to the police officer who patrols your neighborhood.
Your vote matters to the P.O.W., who deserves our utmost respect.
Your vote matters to the safety of your state’s bridges, roads, and highways.

Your vote matters to the integrity of this nation; indeed, it matters to the world. My list of reasons why your vote matters could continue on for another 100 pages.

I shall rest my case, however, for your sake. But for the sake of all those citizens now living, for the future of these United States, please vote. It does, indeed, it will, matter.

About The Author

Melissa Marolf

Melissa Williams Marolf is a member of the #unitecloud Writers Circle! Melissa is a mother of three young adult children and has been a wife to Chad for 28 years. She grew up in Centerville, Ohio and currently lives in Sauk Rapids. She received her undergraduate degree from Miami University (Ohio) in 1988 and her M.A. from Ohio State University in 1991. She is in her eleventh year of teaching English as a second language in the St. Cloud School District and currently teaches at Tech High School. Her favorite thing about Central Minnesota is hiking at the St. John’s Arboretum and she wishes she could change Division Street into a tree-lined, walker and biker-friendly boulevard.