Do you remember the old voting booth? For those too young to remember them, they were big. Big and clunky. I’d walk into a portable cubicle and pull a large handle that loudly closed a privacy curtain behind me and unlocked the voting machine. I’d vote, pull that handle back, and the curtain would swing open for me to leave. The “voting booth” we use now is drastically different, and a lot more secure as well. Those old clunkers didn’t even have the ability to provide a physical paper trail for recounts!
Regardless of how clunky or streamlined the equipment is, it represents power. It represents “We the People”—the very first words of the Constitution’s Preamble. This is where you find the fundamental promise of our democracy. It’s the very foundation upon which every other liberty rests. As a free people, it’s our ultimate tool to shape both domestic and foreign policy, ensuring that those who campaigned on representing our beliefs and priorities are doing just that.
We’re often told that there are many ways to make our wishes heard in a democracy. We’re told to organize, to speak up, to engage. But let’s be honest: none of them carry the raw, undeniable power of a ballot.
We can march and demonstrate in the streets. I did. Many times. But elected representatives can blow that off—and they do. Think back to those dismissive comments made by Republicans about the “No Kings” demonstrations! Trivializing demonstrations is hardly new, though. There have been hundreds of protests over the years—some massive, others small. These targeted racial inequality, the Vietnam War, and women’s rights. There were positive results; changes came about. But those movements only truly broke through when all that energy shifted to the ballot box.
We can also make phone calls to our representatives, but they’re easily ignored. In all the times I called D.C., I never spoke to my Congressman or Senator. And if I did manage to get an aide on the line, the gist of my comments on an issue undoubtedly was reduced to a single tally mark on a sheet of paper.
There aren’t many of us who write letters anymore; email is the way to go. Yet over the years, I’ve written plenty of both—to Congressmen, Senators, and even a President. I knew when those letters slid into the mailbox that only a staffer would ever read them. But I sent them anyway. And not once did I ever receive a reply. Were they bundled up and thrown into the trash? Who knows?!
So, to be blunt, the reality of American politics is that the only time an elected official truly listens to us is in the lead-up to an election. Even then, they don’t always listen willingly. You must have seen at least some of the news stories about Republican Town Halls during the last year. Republican lawmakers grew so averse to facing their own constituents that they stopped holding Town Halls altogether. They didn’t want to hear the criticisms or opinions of the people they represent. Some even went so far as to falsely claim that the constituents who showed up to speak their minds were merely “bused-in agitators.”
When politicians hide from the public, the voting booth becomes the only place left where millions of us can force them to listen. It’s the one equalizer where we have the power to replace representatives from top to bottom and shape policy. And that is precisely why our right to vote is being targeted with such aggression.
Donald Trump and his allies have spent years working overtime to erode our faith in the electoral process. It began with the systematic attempt to overturn the 2020 election. When that failed, it mutated into fabricated tales of massive voter fraud, targeting both in-person and mail-in ballots. All those claims have been thoroughly debunked. Not once, not twice, but multiple times. There are those out there who claim that the independent watchdogs who debunked those fabricated tales are part of a corrupt system. But here’s a funny twist: even research from the ultra-conservative Heritage Foundation itself—the very architects of Trump’s Project 2025 strategy—could… not… find… significant voter fraud!
The political narrative of voter fraud centers on millions of undocumented immigrants voting or massive networks of people impersonating others at the polls. But Heritage’s research completely fails to support this. Here are their results:
- In-person impersonation is virtually non-existent: In reviewing billions of cast ballots over decades, the Heritage Foundation identified just 10 cases of in-person voter impersonation at the polls nationwide.
- Non-citizen voting is extremely rare: Despite claims that millions of non-citizens are swinging elections, Heritage’s database identified only 41 cases involving non-citizens registering, voting, or attempting to vote over a span of roughly 40 years.
- A broad catch-all: To keep their database numbers as high as possible, Heritage counts things that don’t even involve ineligible people casting ballots. A quarter of their cases involve things like duplicate voting, buying votes (bribes of cash or goods), or administrative petition fraud by local campaigns.
Look! Pay attention! The Heritage Foundation set out to build a monument to voter fraud. They wanted to justify the restrictions we see proposed today. Instead, they built the most comprehensive, statistically sound study demonstrating that American elections are overwhelmingly secure, and voter fraud is an exceptionally rare anomaly! Yet the assault continues through aggressive gerrymandering, partisan purges of voter rolls, and persistent efforts to push congressional legislation designed to restrict access to the ballot.
I’m a stubborn American. I possess the same stubborn streak you would’ve found in any colonial patriot walking the streets of Philadelphia or Boston in 1776. The good Lord gave me a package of natural rights when I was born, and our founders reaffirmed those rights when they drafted the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
Our vote is our voice. Our vote is our power. And if we allow it to be stripped away or diminished, we give up the very essence of what it means to be a free people. We can’t let Trump and his allies take it!
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