Editor, I want to talk about voting. Voting is both a right and a privilege.
Many people in our history have fought and died so we can have this privilege. Women were imprisoned and force fed while fighting for suffrage in the 1910s.
Black Americans may have received the right to vote after the Civil War, but that right was taken away from most of them by states imposing voter qualifications that only well-off white men could meet.
The Civil Rights Act of 1965, signed by Lyndon B. Johnson, prohibits racial discrimination in voting. However, there are still systematic efforts to disenfranchise large amounts of voters.
In the recent primary election in Boerne, about 31% of registered voters exercised their right to vote.
I have heard many excuses from people as to why they don’t vote: “I don’t have time,” “I don’t like any of the candidates” or “My vote doesn’t count anyway,” etc.
Your vote does matter.
Our republic was built on democratic principles and when people don’t participate in the process, we are all the worse for it. When the next election comes along, please exercise your right and privilege and go vote.
Suanne Pyle Boerne resident
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