If you are a registered voter living in Lynn, Peabody and Saugus, today is your day. The polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. Get out and vote and make a difference.
Your vote matters. There are countless examples across the country of closely-contested races that were decided by a few votes. If you need a local example, time travel back to 2009 and the mayoral battle in Lynn between Edward J. Clancy Jr. and Judith Flanagan Kennedy. A handful of votes decided the outcome and Kennedy prevailed.
The Item on Oct. 28 offered one reason after another why you should vote. If you don’t vote, argued one of our writers, then you count yourself out of the opportunity to let elected officials hear your voice.
Another writer pointed out the multiple historic examples of the right to vote being denied in America. Poll taxes, arbitrary voter identification rules, and efforts to hide or eliminate polling places are just some examples of how people in power have tried to deny the right to vote.
Two of the three most recent amendments to the U.S. Constitution deal with voting. One abolished poll taxes. The other affirmed the right of American citizens, 18 years old or older, to vote.
Voting matters and the vote of each and every person who walks into a polling place matters.
Make the time today to vote. Find out where you vote. Don’t know where your polling place is? Call the Saugus Town Clerk’s office (781-231-4101) or the Lynn (781-598-4000) or Peabody (978-538-5756) city clerks’ offices and ask where you are supposed to vote.
You might have to wait on hold or call back to get an answer — after all, Election Day is the busiest time of year for a town or city clerk. But be patient.
When you walk into the polling place, you will check in with a poll worker equipped with an address list before receiving a ballot. Then it only takes a minute to pick up a pencil and fill in a tiny oval next to the names of your preferred candidates.
That’s it. But voting is so much more than scribbling on a piece of paper. It is the very essence of democracy. Your vote matters and today you make a difference in this democracy we call the United States of America.
