Helping to Ensure That Your Vote is Your Voice

Rockford Housing Authority

“Ensuring the voices of those we serve are heard in the democratic process”

Helping To Ensure, That Your Vote, Is Your Voice

Getting out to vote November 6^th, can be an aggravation, and learning about issues can take time.

There are many myths, motives and reasons an individual uses to choose not to vote. You may have heard some of these. “It makes no sense to vote.” “It’s very rare for a single vote to change the outcome of an election.” “My vote just isn’t going to make a difference. Why bother?”

Your vote will make a difference at the national, statewide and local levels. One of the key motivations for voting is that one vote can actually make a difference. The past year has demonstrated how much your vote can matter.

Over the many past decades, several races in in elections were decided by a few dozen votes. There have been local elections where a single vote has determined the winner. Your vote does matter. So what can one vote do?

It can facilitates change. It can amplify every voice. It can provide an organized process. Voting with your ballot will provide a simplified, well-thought-out way of eliciting opinions and tabulating results for the future of our community, the state and our country.

Helping in other ways to make a difference on November 6^th, by increasing voter participation in our community.

If you too belief in the importance that your vote is indeed your voice in the democratic process, then share your thoughts and get your sister, your friend or your spouse to vote. Perhaps the most effective message would be to express your own interest in the election, your own desire to vote and your own desire to see them vote.

According to two recent reports, almost “92 million eligible Americans did not vote in the 2016 presidential elections. In the 2014 midterm elections, an estimated 143 million eligible Americans failed to vote, marking the lowest voter participation in 72 years.” For the nation’s and our community democracy to function properly and for our local, regional and state government to provide fair representation, all eligible individuals need to take the opportunity to vote and be encouraged to do so and with your help we can make this happen.

United States Elections Project, “2016 November General Election Turnout Rates,” available at http://www.electproject.org/2016g

United States Elections Project, “2014 November General Election Turnout Rates,” available at http://www.electproject.org/2014g