Jailhouse explanation of why voting matters
A man in a jail cell asked me: If someone running for president can get more votes and still lose the election, then what’s the point of voting?
His question hung there for a beat, because he had a point. The system isn’t fair. The skewed calculation we use to elect a president isn’t fair. The twisted maps we use to send representatives to Washington and to state legislatures aren’t fair. Our sellout elected officials, the ones whose solidarity lies only with those of the same elevated station, continue to hoard and consolidate their power and to break the rules without consequences.
I wondered if I was even being honest, holding out hope and empowerment to someone our political systems have failed, as we watch those systems crumple around us in real time.
Even so, even after all that, voting remains a necessary, critical step of the way forward.
I was in the jail as part of a Houston Justice initiative in which volunteer deputy voter registrars visit the Harris County Jail to offer voter registration and mail-in ballot applications to eligible inmates; it was my fourth visit.
There was a newspaper in the cell with us that had a headline about impeachment, so that was the first thing I latched on. By voting for members of Congress, we have a say in how the legislative branch holds the president accountable, I said.
And of course voting can do much, much more.
By voting for members of Congress, we determine whose agenda can make it through into the laws that affect all of us in this country. We have a say in the affordability of health care; we have a say in confronting the ravages of climate change and our shot at a renewable energy revolution; we have a say in how we treat vulnerable people from other countries; we have a say in whether your household can get by from month to month.
Keep going down the ballot. By voting for state representatives in Texas this year, the year of the census, we get to determine who draws the congressional and state legislative districts, which are currently tilted to underrepresent people of color and to continue to install members of the party that is in power. We could have fair representation for meaningful geographic communities. Or we could give our current officials a pass to continue business as usual and to continue to erode the ability of the people to participate in democracy. That means this year may be our last chance at fairness. In these state-level elections that don’t always get a lot of attention and don’t always get a lot of turnout, voters hold the power to change history. All they have to do is show up to the polls.
Keep going down the ballot. In Houston, because of the blue wave of 2018, we have been able to see bail reform — in a city where many inmates not convicted of a crimehave stayed in jail because they are unable to afford bail. More criminal justice reform is possible. Some people don’t think anyone in jail can vote, or should vote; but there are people like me who believe that having your life significantly altered by the justice system makes your voice more crucial, not less.
The city continues to face other massive challenges: our preparedness for the next storm, the disparities between different neighborhoods, the household costs and headaches of transportation, the misguided plan to expand I-45. If we continue to turn out and vote — for county commissioners, for district attorney, for judges — we have the chance to keep getting things done.
There are obstacles ahead. Voter suppression continues via red tape, purges of voter rolls and manipulated maps. Our elected officials have given the president a green light to do whatever it takes to stay in power, right or wrong. But the only way out is through. One vote might not change a result, but communities coming together with intention absolutely can. There are days that diminish the feeling of hope, but the exercise of hope is more than a gut sensation; it is a strategy.
Voting still matters. And the state of Texas, with its millions of people who have been standing on the sidelines, holds enormous untapped capacity to create change by energizing more of our potential voters. It’s OK if you don’t usually vote but are interested in voting now. We need you. Your community and your loved ones need you to come out and vote, both in the early voting underway leading to the March 3 primary and beyond. You matter.
I am happy to report that the man who asked the question filled out a voter registration form.