Vote because you can
- posted: 06 Nov. 2007
- scrollopinion@byui.edu
It’s Election Day today in Rexburg, and I won’t be visiting the polls. That’s not because I don’t care; I won’t be voting because as a Canadian citizen, I’m not legally allowed to do so. But I wholeheartedly encourage all American citizens and Rexburg residents to vote — students included.
Vote because it’s your fundamental right as a citizen to participate in the process of determining who will lead and represent you in the government.
This right to vote is all the more important to me because I have witnessed people struggling to secure it. I have also witnessed their enthusiasm to vote, when this right was finally granted.
I grew up in South Africa, where black people were not allowed to vote because of apartheid, a political policy of racial segregation. In 1994, free general elections were held for the first time. My family left the country that year, but I can still remember how the lines of people who had turned up to vote for the first time stretched for blocks on Election Day.
Although at nine I didn’t fully understand the significance of that day, this image has stuck with me. Those people had fought so hard and waited so long for the chance to have a say in government that they wouldn’t have missed it for anything.
Later, in my new country of Canada, my own family was unable to vote for nine years until we received our citizenship. I remember how exciting it was to finally be allowed to visit the polls with my parents and mark my X on a ballot, which signified that Canada was my home, and I cared about who was leading the country.
As BYU-Idaho students, we are part of the Rexburg community. It can be easy to get caught up in our schoolwork and forget to look beyond campus; however, the City Council’s decisions are going to affect our lives in Rexburg — even if it’s something as simple as decisions about the roads we drive on.
By registering to vote and participating in city elections, those students who are residents can let the rest of Rexburg know that we do consider ourselves part of this community.
I can’t vote, but what’s stopping you? 
