Although I won’t speak on who you should and shouldn’t vote for in an election, I think it’s safe to say that it’s important to just vote and what your vote means.
In the past election, we had two candidates who were on two different spectrums, President Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.
As a United States citizen, you are given the right and power to choose who will lead our country and make all the decisions for it. This includes all laws, policies, and even international relations, which most don’t realize the importance of.
Voting gives us all the ability to say who we want to represent our nation.
The problem is a lot of people do not see the need to vote.
I can start with the impact on felons and criminals.
In many states, felons lose their right to vote if they are convicted of serious crimes.
Although these rules vary by state, this means that most of the times they cannot participate in the election process.
I say this to say that it is a privilege to be able to vote and most people don’t take advantage of it.
People do not realize how much power the president has.
They have all the power to influence policies such as healthcare, education, and even the criminal justice system.
This is why it is also to make sure that even if we are voting for the presidency, we must vote in local elections as well.
Local elections, such as the House of Representatives and Senate, make up Congress which votes on certain laws to be passed.
Senators and Representatives from each state have a huge influence on those laws and their roles give people a chance to impact government policies, so the president doesn’t have full control over laws he/she wants to put in place.
What this means is although the president can make certain decisions and sign executive orders, the Congress has the power to challenge the decisions and well as hold officials accountable.
So, what happens if the House of Representatives and Senate has a majority of Republicans of Democrats?
This can either benefit or make it hard for the president to pass laws, which makes these roles even more important.
As citizens of this nation, we have to make sure that our voice is heard because it matters.
Voting can determine how life goes for us, be it making it easier or harder for us every day.
We can complain every day about how policy and laws are affecting us negatively, but if we don’t vote, there will never be any change.
We will deal with “what ifs” and hopes until we all make a change.
We must remember to vote in all elections, be it congressional, presidential or even local because that is the only way we can change the way things are.