In the past, there were people that could only dream of voting. African Americans and women had to fight for the right to be heard. Today now that this right is available to all of us, we don't take advantage of it. The right to vote was not just handed to Americans. We had to fight for it. To not take for granted what our ancestors went through and fought for is unheard of. Therefore we need to stand up and be counted to make sure that our future has the same privileges whether we care or not.
             Exercising your given right to vote is something that African Americans have not always had the right to do. We had to prove not only that we are worthy of the right to vote but that we could afford such a right. States instituted literacy tests, constitutional interpretation tests, educational achievement tests, discriminated in regulatory rules and demanded poll taxes just so that we could not vote this was also known as "Jim Crow Laws". Just to know that the states went through so much to keep me from voting makes me want to go out and vote even if I feel that my vote doesn't make a difference. Also to know that people have died for me as a woman and also me as an African American, to vote is all the reason in the world for me to continue something that they fought so hard for.
             Everyone deserves the right to be heard and the opportunity to voice there opinions. What better time to do so than election time. The way I look at it is like this: 100 people are eligible to vote. If ALL register AND vote, then 51 votes decide the election. If only 60 people register to vote (even though 100 people are eligible to register) AND ALL 60 vote, 31 votes win the election. If 60 people register to vote, but only 30 of them (50%) vote, then it takes only 16 votes to win the election. So when you think about it, when you choose not to vote you are giving more clout to every vote that is recorded. When you vote you ...