A duty to vote

After the Constitutional Convention in 1787, when Benjamin Franklin was asked if we had a republic or a monarchy, he responded: “A republic, if you can keep it.”

Franklin and the rest of our Founding Fathers knew something that few did: They could create a government, but not guarantee it. The flag of republican self-governance has been raised through the blood of patriots and the defeat of tyrants. It is now in the hands of the people to keep the flag of democracy aloft; it is once again time for us to carry out our civic duty and vote on Nov. 3.

Despite the importance of midterm elections, which decide the balance of power in Congress, they receive much less attention than the presidential election. The branch responsible for passing laws, declaring war and raising or lowering taxes is all too often treated as unimportant by a majority of the public.

In the 2024 presidential election, about 64% of eligible voters went to the polls, according to data from the University of Florida. However, in the 2022 midterms, only 46% of eligible voters cast a ballot, according to the Pew Research Center.

Think about what that means: A majority of the public surrendered their right to elect their representatives.

Single votes rarely decide an election, but close races are often decided by a handful of people in each community who did or didn't show up.

In 2017, a race for Virginia’s House of Delegates ended in an exact tie. After a recount and legal battle, the winner’s name was picked out of a bowl. In 2020, the election for the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of North Carolina was decided by 401 votes out of nearly 5.4 million total. In Ohio, we have multiple close races: the Senate, the Gubernatorial race and Ohio’s 7th, 9th and 1st Congressional Districts. All these races might be decided by a few thousand votes.

The most common reason people give for not voting is that their vote “doesn’t matter.” It is an understandable feeling, but it comes from a fundamental misunderstanding of how democracy works.

Decisions are made by those who show up, and refusing to show up doesn’t remove the influence of politics on your life; it only removes your voice from politics.

Voting is a debt we owe to those who fought, bled and died for the right to enfranchisement. Women marched for decades to win the right to vote. Black Americans fought for centuries through discrimination, lynchings and the Jim Crow era to earn the right to vote.

Since the colonies fought for independence, Americans in uniform have given the last full measure of devotion for the most fundamental, yet rare, right: the power to elect our leaders. By willingly forfeiting your right to vote, you do a disservice to everyone who has fought and died for our country.

Franklin’s warning was not about foreign enemies: It was about us. A republic rarely falls suddenly; it slowly dies as the people decide to willingly surrender their right to vote. When we decide that the republic is no longer worth keeping, we will lose it.

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So make a plan. Confirm that you’re registered to vote and verify your polling place with your county board of elections. Look up who is on your ballot, all the way down to the local races. Vote early, if possible, or put Nov. 3 on your calendar and vote in person (Ohio’s polls close at 7:30 p.m.).

The founders gave us a republic. Whether we keep it comes down to one thing: whether you vote.

poppelcl@miamioh.edu

Christian Poppell is a sophomore majoring in political science with minors in religious studies and international studies. He is a writer for the Opinion section of The Miami Student and a member of the Miami University Debate Team.