Elections 2020: Why Voting Matters to our Community
We asked our community members and students to share with us why they value voting and its importance to them amid the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. Read their responses below!
Today I celebrated 100 years of women’s suffrage in the U.S. by exercising my right to vote and honoring all those who have sacrificed and suffered (both women and men) so I can vote — your voice matters, VOTE!
Megan Clark Torrey, CEO
As an Immigrant and Veteran, I had to earn my American way of life, it didn’t come without sacrifices. Therefore, I hold dear every privilege that comes with it, and voting my conscience is the best way for me to safeguard those privileges for generations to come.
Fred Kyeremeh, Founder & Editor of the Ghanaian-American Journal and CTWAC Member
What I have seen firsthand in the last few months is that voting is a matter of life and death. Please vote and vote wisely.
Dr. Saud Anwar, Connecticut State Senator & CTWAC Board Member
Voting was very important to us this year. My family worked really hard to get us all to this country so my brother and I can get a great education and build a better future for ourselves. This household voted to continue that for our fellow immigrants and other citizens that fought for our rights to have us live the life we live in this amazing country.
Dhara Patel, Former CTWAC Intern
I uphold the privilege and right to vote. While we are in the Centennial year of women’s right to vote with the 19th Amendment, Black women weren’t granted this right until the Voting Rights Act of 1964.
Yvonne Davis, CTWAC Board Member
Knowing the hardship to exercise the Democratic right to cast a ballot for who will either once again or next lead our Free World, I voted at a time in which Democracy and the ideal of what the Republic stands for is at stake.
Our Framers, if they were alive today would have had tremendous debate; perhaps leading to violence over what it means to have “Tyranny of the Majority versus Tyranny of the Minority.”
Democracy and peace are not hand in hand, and is evolving. Our Democracy appears to be a set of contradictions that are practical versus a utility. The meaning of Democracy has layers and defining it is changing to a place giving many Cognitive Dissonance and uncertainty.
This Presidential Election, for whatever the outcome is, the Nation’s Constitutional structure rocks back and forth hanging in the balance when it comes to justice, liberty and equity. I vote for civility on our land. My duty to exercise my voice beyond this pivotal moment for freedom is a must.
I voted because it meant a lot to me to have my voice heard in my country. I value the fact that in the United States I’m able to participate freely, because I know that people don’t have the same opportunity in other countries. I believe that young people should be involved in politics to be more aware about pressing issues and to generate an opinion on them.
Hanna Pomaski, Avon High School student
In Egypt, I fought for democratic ideals. Then I fought to become an American citizen. And now I, as an American, will continue to fight for those same ideals, which are increasingly under threat.
Esam Boraey, CTWAC Board Member
American democracy these days feels a bit like that room where I sat waiting to become a citizen — socially distanced, measured not just by chairs or in feet but culturally and politically…Still, I am free ― free to stand up for the ideals that brought me here in the first place.
Voting is such an important part of democracy. That my mother was so happy to vote when she finally became a United States citizen. She loves the fact that in America if you can’t go in person to vote, you can receive an absentee ballot. She is amazed that the postal workers will deliver your vote for the election. My mother still remembers a time where she lived in a country where there was not such thing as voting in a election. She is proud that she can help democracy by voting. As the political science major in my family I made sure everyone was registered to vote and the importance of voting. I tried not to influence my judgment on their ballot and made sure that I translate documents from both sides of the political party to make sure that my family was able to vote based on their judgment and not on mine. We are so proud to vote in this election!
Valentina Krasniqi, Current Education Intern
The World Affairs Council of CT Blog 