To the Editor:

“The vote is the most powerful nonviolent change agent you have in a democratic society. You must use it because it is not guaranteed. You can lose it.”

— John Lewis

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The election is not far off. Our country needs your vote!

Yet in every election in this country, millions of people who can vote choose not to do so. Some are disillusioned. Others don’t care. Many are too busy with their lives, and don’t care enough to learn about different candidates.

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“If you don’t take an interest in the affairs of your government, then you are doomed to live under the rule of fools.” — Plato

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Others fail to vote because they don’t like the choice before them. Sometimes the choice is hard. No candidate is perfect. No human being is perfect. There are no perfect candidates, but there are unqualified and unfit ones. Vote for the one who best represents your values. If you wait for the perfect candidate and don’t vote, you may not be happy with the outcome.

If you don’t vote, you’re not exercising your rights or your freedom. Voting is a right. It’s a privilege that people in some countries lack, one that we fought for. At the beginning of our republic, only male property owners could vote. It was just a century ago — Aug. 18, 1920 — that the 19th Amendment gave American women the right to vote.

In many countries, if you’re a citizen, voter registration is automatic. This is not true in the USA. In 2012, almost a quarter of Americans eligible to vote were not registered, according to a Pew Center study. Official statistics vary, but between one-fifth and one-quarter of those eligible to vote fail to register and do so.

What does it take to register? You need to fill out a form that must be mailed in. You cannot register entirely online. You can find the form on the site, or pick one up at your local library, post office, and many other government buildings.

President Theodore Roosevelt said, “This country will not be a good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a good place for all of us to live in.” We do that by voting.

Voting is not only a political act; it is a creative one. We shape our future through voting. You create your country by voting.

You’re not voting just for President. You’re voting for all who lead us –senators, representatives, and in local elections, mayors and those on the Village or Town council. You’re voting for judges. You’re voting for the person who will replace Ruth Bader Ginsberg in the Supreme Court. You’re voting to keep our air and water clean, and for public spaces like national parks. You’re voting for all the issues in the coming years that will be decided by our leaders.

We are the silent majority. We are the backbone of this country but we don’t burn things down or tear things up. But we get no air time. We’re invisible until we vote. So get registered and get ready. It’s time for your voice to be heard.

If we wait for the perfect candidate and don’t vote, we get Adolf Hitler. I prefer voting for the candidate who best represents my values. As a realist, I believe compromise is important. Resistance without a bit of compromise, and a refusal to make your voice heard through voting, leads to gas chambers, children in cages, the knee on the throat. Dictators want to keep people poor, uneducated, and under their guns — but we the people can change that. We can resist. We can vote.

Just imagine what our society might look like if every person felt that their voice and their life mattered. Imagine that they also saw themselves and each other as fellow citizens, all in this together. Just imagine if we had a sea of humanity voting in 2020.

This year, go to the polls. Make sure you’re registered. Get ready. Familiarize yourself with candidates and issues. Make sure your voice is heard.

Yvona Fast

Lake Clear