Time for Texans to stop bringing up the rear with voter participation

Ben Franklin was leaving Independence Hall after casting his vote for the new U.S. Constitution in 1787 when a woman approached him to ask what type of government was established. “A Republic,” he replied. “If you can keep it.”

Franklin and our other founding fathers understood that their work to form a nation governed by its people was just a beginning. They realized the ongoing work of forming a “more perfect union” and a secure nation that protected the U.S. Constitution and the freedoms in the Bill of Rights would rest solely on the active participation of everyday citizens in public affairs.

Imagine what our founding fathers would think of Texas, which today boasts the lowest voter turnout in the nation.

Let us commit ourselves on this National Voter Registration Day to encourage American citizens, especially our fellow Texans, to register and vote. We have a lot of work to do. The nonprofit Voter Participation Center in Washington, D.C., estimates 52 million Americans are not registered to vote.

The American Revolution was fought and our new nation born from colonists revolting against a British king for imposing higher taxes and taking away rights and services without giving the people any input or say in that decision. The birth of the United States eliminates this “taxation without representation,” but the power to keep it safe rests on the action of every citizen to show up and vote.

103 years ago, women were tripped, groped, beaten and had lit cigarette butts and deplorable insults thrown at them as they demanded the right to vote. African-Americans were killed, beaten and often denied access to the polls until 51 years ago when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

Today we all stand on the shoulders of those brave Americans who fought and sacrificed for our right to register and vote. We have a responsibility to preserve this right, to honor our forebears and to ensure our interests are represented in government by fulfilling what we should all see as our patriotic duty to register and vote.