Proud to exercise my right to vote — despite bizarre circumstances
On Sunday — Day 65 of family quarantine — my mom sat at the kitchen table opening mail in the early morning sunlight. Sitting beside her, I turned on the news, watching campaign ad after campaign ad play on the screen in between bits of coronavirus-related updates.
I marveled as U.S. House of Representatives candidate Valerie Plame completed an obstacle course and drove backward — a play on her previous career in the CIA — and opponent Marco Serna rode a horse, simultaneously challenging her legitimacy as a candidate.
While I was watching, my mom announced the arrival of our absentee ballots. It was in that moment, I realized my first-ever voting experience would be quite different than that of most 18-year-olds, given the climate in which I am voting is itself unprecedented.
As a result of the pandemic, I will not come home proudly from a polling location on June 2 with a longawaited “I Voted” sticker, but it is still critical — arguably more now than ever — that I find a way to cast my vote and make my voice heard.
We are certainly living through a historically significant election year for many reasons. For one, we are coming out of four years of a presidency that has been very detrimental to women, immigrants and asylum-seekers, minority groups, members of the LGBTQ community and the environment. We need leaders who will turn their attention to supporting these groups and take immediate climate action to save our planet.
Another reason this year is so special is that 2020 is the 100th anniversary of women’s right to vote. I was so thrilled that for eight out of the 17 positions on my very first ballot, I voted for a female candidate because I felt she was both the most qualified for the position and the most representative of my views. My first voting experience is incredibly meaningful to me for this reason. I am part of the 100-year legacy of women making their voice heard in this country. And even though there are still gender inequities within our society that I will continue to fight to change, I recognize those changes won’t happen if I am apathetic and choose not to exercise my right to vote.
Of course, a question on every first-time voter’s mind is: How can I make an informed decision? How can I find reliable information about the candidates without running into confusing partisan bias and rhetoric? And how can I hold my elected officials accountable once they are elected and make sure they fight for me and my community?
Personally, I used resources like voting guides from reliable local newspapers and organizations such as the League of Women Voters, Youth United for Climate Crisis Action, the Santa Fe New Mexican and the Santa Fe Reporter.
These guides gave me helpful information regarding issues of value to me. Also, as a member of the generation that will soon have to deal with the consequences of inaction in response to climate change, I wanted to vote for candidates who are willing to fight for climate solutions like the Green New Deal — a bold change in U.S. economic policy that aims to eliminate carbon emissions.
But no matter what issues you support or what your political stance might be, it’s important to vote for a candidate that best represents the interests of your community.
Even if you don’t consider yourself a “politically minded” person, it is still your responsibility to yourself, your community and your elected officials to vote. There is still great injustice in our country in the form of voter suppression, which prevents disadvantaged and primarily minority communities from voting. In the time of COVID-19, issues of voter suppression only become more apparent as the health of our communities, especially marginalized ones, is at stake. It is up to those who are able to vote to show our elected officials that we see these systemic injustices, we are unwilling to tolerate them and we are determined to help make a change.
All of this said, please don’t allow your involvement to stop at the ballot box. Continue to educate yourself on bills and issues you want your elected officials to support in office, and contact them to tell them why. Just as it was your duty to vote, it is now theirs to listen to you and fight for you.
As I sat down at my dining room table to research candidates and cast my ballot, I felt a sense of pride. I felt proud to be a citizen of a country where my voice matters and proud to take part in a historic election — one that might determine the basic health and survival of people in our communities as this pandemic unfolds.
If I could tell women’s rights advocates Elizabeth Cady Stanton or Sojourner Truth that a century after women’s suffrage was achieved, an 18-year-old girl from New Mexico, quarantined in a global pandemic, had just cast her vote in favor of several qualified, talented and badass women for the U.S. House of Representatives, New Mexico Supreme Court and district attorney, I hope they would know all of their hard work was well worth it.
And for those people who fought and continue to fight for my rights, I won’t stop speaking up, voting or advocating for what I feel is right — not until I believe my elected officials are intelligent, capable and seriously committed to principles of equality and justice. For this, I have hope.