The deadline to register for the March 1 primary is on Feb. 12, meaning time is running out for anyone that hasn’t done so yet.

Over the last few years, voter turnout in Selma and Dallas County hasn’t been high. This time around, with the presidential race on the ballot, participation is likely to increase, but we’d like to see it skyrocket.

If there’s a place in the United States where people shouldn’t need to be reminded to vote, it’s Selma.  In 1965, marchers were bloodied and beaten while trying to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge on a day now known as Bloody Sunday. Last year, on the 50th anniversary of that day, more than 100,000 people came to Selma to honor those that sacrificed so much to earn the right to cast a vote.

During that weekend, President Barack Obama gave a speech those in attendance will never forget.

“What a solemn debt we owe. Which leads us to ask, just how might we repay that debt?” Obama asked. “First and foremost, we have to recognize that one day’s commemoration, no matter how special, is not enough.”

The president was right then and those words still ring just as true today.

Thousands gathering to honor the sacrifice those marchers made wasn’t enough to thank them for their bravery and for what they accomplished.

Although nothing will ever measure up, the best way to honor them is simply just by casting a ballot every time there’s an election.

We encourage anyone that isn’t registered to vote to think about the sacrifice made nearly 51 years ago on the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Everyone in the United States should take advantage of the right to vote, but in Selma it should be celebrated and turnout should never be a problem.