Is your vote alive and well?
3rd September 2024 · 0 Comments
We’ve all heard the slogan: “Democracy is on the ballot.” But what does that mean? It means our freedom is at stake. Depending on the outcome of the election, we could either uphold our freedom with democracy or risk a future under a dictatorship with no freedom or choice. The consequences of our votes are significant and will shape our future. The weight of this decision cannot be overstated.
Proof that our voting power dictates what the government can and can’t do is illustrated by the concerted effort by some groups and politicians to employ under-the-cover and straight-up voter suppression tactics.
Last Monday, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry signed an executive order to “protect the integrity of our elections” by mandating that all agencies ensure that “non-citizens and “unauthorized immigrants” are not allowed to vote.
It’s not just non-citizens and immigrants being targeted. No. Landry wants all offices in the state that provide public assistance or state-funded programs primarily engaged in providing services to persons with disabilities to act as voter registration agencies.
The agencies must notify people on public assistance that only a U.S. citizen may register and vote in Louisiana. Let’s consider this now. “Giving notice” may be a slick way to investigate whether people on public assistance are illegal immigrants.
Landry is following the collective agenda of the Trump wing of the GOP.
Not to be outdone, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton orchestrated a series of election fraud raids on the homes of Latino Democratic Party leaders and League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) members.
Who wouldn’t fear pre-dawn intrusions into their homes based on assumptions?
LULAC, the country’s oldest and largest Latino civil rights organization, is requesting that the Department of Justice investigate what leaders call “voter intimidation” and “civil rights violations.”
The raids, reminiscent of KKK raids, began at 6 a.m. Chief Executive Officer Juan Proaño told the media that at least nine cops executed a search warrant, one of 12 authorized by the “voter integrity” search and seizure searchers, on the home of Olivia Martinez. The 87-year-old great-grandmother was awakened in the process and interrogated for three hours.
Another Latino’s home was raided by 40 police in SWAT gear, Proaño told MSNBC host José Díaz-Balart, and some were interrogated for seven hours.
Voter roll purges, “election integrity” laws, and raids are just part of the latest acts of voter suppression by the MAGA cult’s elected officials. These acts of desperation (to get Trump and other MAGA cultists elected or re-elected) are indicative of the power of our votes. Indeed, one vote can mean the difference between a candidate of our choice being elected.
We can’t tell you how to vote, but we advise you to scrutinize all candidates’ policy agendas and past positions on the November 5 presidential election ballot. This is a time to proceed with caution and the facts.
But before we head to the polls, we should all check to see if our vote is alive and well. It’s our responsibility to ensure our vote has not been purged from the Louisiana voting rolls. Proactively checking our voter registration status ensures our voices are heard in the upcoming election.
The New Orleans Public Library (NOPL) suggests you visit Geaux Vote, the Louisiana Secretary of State website to check your vote. It is the easiest way to check your voter registration. Visit geauxvote.com or download the Geaux Vote mobile app from the App Store or Google Play.
Or we can visit https://voterportal.sos.la.gov/inactivevoters and see if our name is on the Louisiana Secretary of State’s Inactive Voters List.
The New Orleans Public Library (NOPL) is your go-to resource for voter education. During September and October, the Library hosts voter registration events to help residents get #VoteReady and a series of speakers who answer the question, “Why Vote?”
There is still time to register to ensure your voice is heard in the upcoming election. Voting registration support is also available at NOPL’s “Why Vote” events. Visit https://nolalibrary.org/2024/08/13/voting-resources to find out more.
All registered voters, especially Black voters, who don’t want to go back to the 1950s and the U.S.’ apartheid government, must turn up and turn out in record numbers. Here in Louisiana, we saw what happened when many democratic-minded voters sat by and didn’t vote in the gubernatorial election: We’ve got a mini-Trump, Jeff Landry, running the state government.
Those who care about the loss of women’s freedom to choose what to do with their bodies, book bans, attacks on “wokeness” (i.e., Black culture and Black history), LGBTQ+ discrimination, the elimination of marriage equality laws, the potential national abortion ban, public education, freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom to learn, and freedom of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, constitutional and civil rights, public assistance, and conservative fiscal policies, must vote for the candidates that will protect democracy and freedoms, writ large.
To sit the election out, to fail to register to vote or check that your vote is valid, is to let the mighty United States of America lapse into an authoritarian, dictatorial-style government where none of us is free.
To quote Michelle Obama at the recent DNC, “Do Something.” Get off the couch, register, and go vote.
This article originally published in the September 2, 2024 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
