Voting is so powerful. Not voting is so powerful. Voting in every election is so powerful. Voting every position on the ballot is so powerful. Voting is so powerful but only when we know the power of our vote.

I thought a whole lot about voting during the first week in August. I was on several panels at Wallace Community College Selma (WCCS) and several radio programs discussing voting and the Voting Rights Act. I was the keynote speaker at a voting rights conference at Alabama State University (ASU) conference. I was also on a panel at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D. C. several weeks ago. And Aug. 6 is my personal designation for National Voting Rights Day because the 1965 Voting Rights Act was signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson on this day. Our vote is so powerful when we know the power of our vote.

We talk a lot about the need to vote. We talk a lot about the duty to vote. We talk about the struggle for the right to vote. We talk about voting a whole lot but we rarely talk about the power of the vote. Our vote is so powerful but only when we know the power of our vote.

When we study civics in school, we learn about the governing process — the branches of government and what each does. We are not taught about the power of our vote. Understanding the process is alright but it does not correlate to exercising the power of our vote. We learned a lot but we don’t learn the power of our vote. Our vote is so powerful when we know the power of our vote.

We must understand that it is not in the personal interest of those in power to have every citizen understand the full power of our vote. If such an understanding was profound and prevalent, none of those in office, including me, would be in office.

I see and hear graphic illustrations which demonstrate that we do not know the power of our vote. I’m sure that you have encountered these illustrations as well. Let’s call up just a few: My one vote doesn’t count; Voting doesn’t make any difference; I haven’t gotten anything from voting; Voting is a waste of time; See the mess we are in; and so on. Let’s look closely at these illustrations.

My one vote doesn’t count! When a person says my one vote doesn’t count, that demonstrates that he/she doesn’t know the power of our vote. First, it is not true that we have just one vote. We have many votes because we have a vote in each and every election. We have many votes because there are usually multiple positions on each ballot and we have a vote for each position on the ballot. If we just understood that we have multiple votes and each becomes more powerful in conjunction with each other and others, we would take a step toward understanding the power of our vote. Our vote is so powerful but only when we know the power of our vote.

Voting does not make a difference. The reason we do not see the difference is not because of our voting but rather our non-voting. When we don’t vote, we increase the power of those who do vote. We give away our votes and then complain about what voting did or did not do. Our votes are powerful when we don’t vote but the power belongs to those who do vote and is used against us. Not voting is so powerful because we don’t know the power of our vote.

See the mess we are in! We are in a mess but that mess springs from our not voting rather than our voting. We confuse the cause of the mess thereby further empowering those who would rather we didn’t vote. If voting was not powerful, certain people would not have gone to such lengths to deny the right to vote. If voting was not powerful, certain people would not be going to such efforts even now to make it more difficult to vote. Not voting is powerful in the negative. Voting is powerful in the positive but only when we know the power of our vote.

I did not get anything from voting! When we vote we look for one or two big concrete things like a job or money. If we or someone connected to us do not receive one of those two things, we conclude we did not get anything from our vote. If we understood the power of our vote, we would know that our votes impact everything in our lives and the lives of those connected to us by love, care and concern. Our voting impacts the air we breathe; the water we drink; the food we eat; the highways we ride on; the vehicles we ride in; the work we do; the education we get or don’t get; the health we have or don’t have; the jobs and wages we get or don’t get; and so on. Our votes literally affect everything in our lives from conception to birth to death and beyond. If I had more space, I would illustrate each proposition. Our vote is so powerful but only when we know the power of our vote.

If we really understood the power of our vote, we would vote in every election; we would vote for every position on the ballot; we would encourage everyone we associate with to vote; we would point out to the naysayers how our vote affects every single thing in our lives; we would see that our children fully understand the power of the vote. When we don’t know the power of our vote we squander that power and blame others. Our vote is powerful but only when we know the power of our vote.