Amanda Horne: If you didn't vote, you just might lose that 'right'

Voting -- yes, I know, roll of the eyes -- we are all just sick and tired of the horrible negative ads, the backstabbing, the lies and, let's face it, many times the lack of a decent candidate!

According to a Washington Post article a couple of weeks ago, this past midterm election had the lowest voter turnout in any election cycle since World War II -- the lowest turnout in over 70 years. What on earth has happened that so many people just don't care who "we the people" elect to run OUR country?

Actually, I must confess something: I am not a registered voter; I am not yet a citizen of this great country and have yet to earn the enormous privilege of being able to help choose who leads us. So, you say, what gives me the right to preach to you about voting? I just care, that's all!

I have seen friends from Canada and the UK who have recently gained their U.S. citizenship, and their sense of pride when they can finally wear their "I Voted" stickers for the first time is an incredible thing to witness. I want to belong to that club your club!

The most basic right of a citizen in a democracy is the right to vote. It took 70 years of sacrifice and hardships by our fellow sisters for women to be given the right to vote. And it was not until just 50 years ago that racial discrimination in voting was finally prohibited. Literacy tests, taxes and even religious tests had been used by state and local governments to intentionally deny immigrants, non-white citizens, Native Americans and any other "undesirable" groups from exercising any voting rights.

Now we take it for granted, that it's a right that no one can take away, and we don't even bother to exercise our right. Well, unless we start to pay a little more attention to our "right to vote," we may as well not have it.

I hear the words "I don't know enough about the issues" -- well then, educate yourself! The League of Women Voters publishes a non-partisan guide to the issues and the candidates. They lay out what voting yes on an amendment means versus what no would mean and all in understandable terms.

I also hear "My vote won't count." How about the small town of Neptune Beach, Fla., where a run-off between two city council candidates resulted in a dead tie of 1,447 votes

each.

Do you know how they determined the winner? The town's supervisor of elections held a drawing Nov. 14 between the two candidates -- with a coin toss and numbered ping-pong balls. Seriously. The challenger won the coin toss to draw a ping-pong ball first, but the incumbent won the game of chance by choosing the highest numbered ball (No. 12). That easily topped his challenger's No. 4 ball.

This is how an election is won? If just one more person took the time to exercise their right to vote, it would not have been a "game of chance."

OK, so you don't like any of the candidates. It is a tough choice when the two main parties are so polarized, but we all make tough decisions every day -- the lesser of the two evils, perhaps? Do you have an issue that you believe in wholeheartedly? You can make a difference. You vote for a county commissioner, a state representative, a senator, and you take the time to tell them what issues you care about. They actually work for you! Visit their local offices, write to them, email them.

Heck, go to Tallahassee and Washington, D.C. For as Abraham Lincoln said, to ensure the survival of America's representative democracy, this should be a "Government of the people, by the people, for the people"

YOU are the "people."

I am unable to go and stand in a voting booth on Election Day and cast my vote for my desired candidate. But does that stop me from taking part in the elections? Hell no!

I still take the time to educate myself on the candidates and the issues, and then I go out and stand on street corners waving signs in support of my candidate, and I help with fundraisers, and why? Because I care what happens to my community and to my America, and I cannot wait for the day I get my citizenship and am able to cast my vote.

Amanda Horne, community relations coordinator for the Women's Resource Center of Manatee and the board chair at PACE Center for Girls of Manatee, can be reached at amobamanda@ gmail.com

COMING NEXT SUNDAY: Susan Timmins, local business owner, mother and Anna Maria Island resident, gets up the nerve to hit the dance floor after 35 years.

This story was originally published November 23, 2014 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Amanda Horne: If you didn't vote, you just might lose that 'right'."