Ben Carson - One Vote: Make Your Voice Heard

S EVERAL YEARS AGO, after the usual arduous twelve-to-sixteen-hour day at work as the director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital, I was rushing home to complete my civic duty as a voter in Marylands gubernatorial race. I lived in Upperco, Maryland, and my polling place was right down the street at a fire station. I arrived five minutes before 8 p.m., which was the closing time for the polls. After waiting in line for a few minutes, I was told the polls were closed and those still waiting in line would not be permitted to vote. I was considerably less than amused and felt deprived of a constitutional right.

It was one of the few times I have missed a voting opportunity since I reached the age of majority while in college. I remember being very excited about my first opportunity to vote for a presidential candidate while a student at Yale. Like most of the students there at that time, I considered myself a liberal and proudly voted for George McGovern, who lost in a landslide. My political leanings have changed significantly over the years based on my experiences. Although I probably lean more toward the conservative side now, my interest in participating in the selection of our representatives has not diminished. In fact, now that I have children and grandchildren, I have even more interest in trying to protect their future with my one vote.

Recent polling has shown that the vast majority of Americans feel our nation is moving in the wrong direction, and many people feel powerless to do anything about it. This is why we the people must undergo a radical change in our perception of who we are and how much power we have. We are at the pinnacle of power because our system of governance was set up that way.

There are few things in our lives that compare to the privilege and the responsibility we have as voters. Many people feel that their one vote does not count because they are only one among millions, but the sad fact is that in the 2012 presidential election, 93 million eligible voters failed to vote, many of them feeling that their vote simply did not matter. Even a small fraction of that number of votes could dramatically affect the outcome of any election.

In the early days of Americas history, only the rich and privileged were allowed to vote. Everyone elses right to vote was won after a hard-fought battle and should not be so easily relinquished. Voting is the only way we can control our government. If we fail to exercise that right, we are in danger of abdicating to our government the one power we all have in commonour one vote. What a terrible thing to believe that our one vote does not matter. It most certainly does. The next couple of national elections in America will determine what kind of country the future will hold. Each of us who plans on living here should certainly make sure, through our voting, that it is the place where we truly want to live.

After my unpleasant experience at the fire station in Upperco, Maryland, I began voting by absentee ballot and never had another anxious moment due to my unpredictable schedule. As the reader will learn in this publication, there are many avenues we can pursue to take advantage of our voting rights without creating undue turmoil in our lives.