RICHARDSON: No one can suppress the vote
Last Tuesday, as I was leaving the Georgia National Fair in Perry after attending the Senate and gubernatorial debates, there was an elderly woman at the gate. She asked me, “Who should I vote for?” I told her I couldn’t tell her who to vote for, only that she had to vote.
The last day to register for the Nov. 4 election was Oct. 6. We will be picking a governor, U.S. senator and congressman along with the state attorney general, state school superintendent and a host of other statewide offices. Early voting begins Oct. 13, and on Oct. 25, voters can cast their ballots on Saturday. Locally, there was an effort to add a Sunday to the voting mix, but the Board of Elections decided to pass on that. I agree. I don’t mind the $3,000 cost, but there are a plethora of opportunities to vote -- if you want to.
The old phrase, “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink,” comes to mind. No doubt about it, there are efforts to suppress the vote, particularly those in minority communities who tend to vote for Democrats. Republicans have pulled out their bag of tricks. The GOP is on the wrong side of a numbers game. If more people show up at the polls, they lose. So what’s a party to do? Fortunately, suppressing the vote is impossible to accomplish without voter acquiescence.
The answer to every lowdown, dirty tactic is simple. Vote. If they make a rule that closes polling places at noon, vote by 11:59 a.m. If they say we have to bring our original birth certificate to the polls, dig it out of the box, order a replacement if you must, but vote. If we go back to single-day voting, drop everything you’re doing on that day and vote. If the line is backed up for miles, bring a sleeping bag and cooler with sandwiches and drinks, but vote. If you’ve just been released from prison, apply to have your rights restored and vote. No one can take away our right to vote unless we let them.
There is no inconvenience imaginable that should keep us away from the voting booth. If you’re on your sick bed, an absentee ballot is a phone call away. Going to be in China? Same thing. Just don’t want the hassle of standing in line? Same thing.
At some point voters have to take responsibility for their civic lives. We can try to shame the unwashed into voting, but that’s not a long-term fix. They must want to participate -- and if not, they get what they get. At some point, they’ll figure it out, like the folks in Ferguson, Missouri, who now understand that voting can be an issue of life and death.
There is no excuse for skipping a vote. We’ve all heard the lament that one person’s vote doesn’t count. Those lazy enough to believe that ignore all of the evidence to the contrary. My reply to them is no reply at all. “Stupid is as stupid does,” as old Forrest Gump would say. When I hear drivel like that, I think to myself -- right before going internally ballistic -- Rule No. 1. What’s Rule No. 1? “He who argues with a fool is a fool.”
And that’s all I have to say about that.
I don’t know what it’s going to take to make people understand that voting is important. Who we elect, or not, has consequences. And if we sit on our backsides and let other voices have more influence than our own because it’s hot outside or it’s raining and we decide not to make it to the polls, then we get what we deserve and should shut up and take our whipping.
I’ve grown tired of listening to all the complaining about this or that government agency and how they’ve tried so hard to get answers to their questions. Too many times when I ask, “Did you vote?” I get this vacant stare and then you-know-what-comes-out-of-you-know-where. By that time they are looking at my backside as I’m walking away.
Charles E. Richardson is The Telegraph’s editorial page editor. He can be reached at 478-744-4342 or via email at crichardson@macon.com. Tweet@crichard1020.
This story was originally published October 12, 2014 at 12:00 AM with the headline "RICHARDSON: No one can suppress the vote ."