Links to useful voting information and resources can be found below
By Alex Zoellner ‘19
In a democracy, those within the community are given a voice to choose their elected officials, who in turn are elected to represent their constituents within the government. In addition, members of the community are given a voice to speak out on specific pieces of legislature. This is done by way of the aforementioned legislations appearing on the ballot, for constituents to vote in favor of or against the proposed legislations. As such, the most impactful way to have your voice heard on such issues is to vote. If you feel strongly enough on an issue, you can support pieces of legislation or officials running for election by way of sponsorships, such as ad campaigns or charitable donations.
This is the way voting works in a democracy
So then, why do potential constituents who don’t vote, or worse aren’t even registered to vote, complain about the outcome of the ballot. You didn’t do your job as an american citizen to voice your opinion on something you clearly care about. If you don’t vote or aren’t registered to vote, you have forfeited your right to speak on such issues by way of failing to exercise your right to its fullest extent. Obviously, if you are ineligible to vote, for numerous reasons such as not being at least 18 years of age or not being a legal U.S. citizen, this doesn’t apply to you.
In one of the most controversial presidential elections in recent history, only about 137,000,000 people voted. This translates to about 59.5% of “eligible voters” casting their ballot. Keep in mind that the number of eligible voters (which was roughly 232 million), consists only of those who are registered to vote and meet the other voting eligibility requirements. The percent, of the total number (about 309 million) of people who were old enough to vote, that did was only about 44.5% (roughly 77 million people). And look where this has brought us, millions of people were/are incredibly upset about the turnout, when a staggering 95 million eligible voters didn’t vote. There is no other word to describe this than absurd. If you didn’t vote you have no room to complain. At the end of the day, it isn’t about you, its about the communal voice.
So, register to vote and make your voice heard.
Useful ballot information websites:
Register to Vote
https://www.sos.state.co.us/voter/pages/pub/olvr/verifyNewVoter.xhtml
Ballotpedia
Overall this website is one of, if not the most, helpful for informing you on both what is the current state of affairs in reference to our elected officials and also what is on the ballot. The “Sample Ballot Lookup”, “How To Vote”, and “Poll Opening and Closing Times” functions are especially helpful.
https://ballotpedia.org/Colorado
U.S. Election Assistance Commission
While this website is not going to tell you about your specific ballot for this upcoming primary election, it is going to tell you how to use the polling equipment, where to vote, and more general pieces of information of this nature.