Looking at photos of Iraqis voting on Jan. 30, 2005, proudly lifting ink-stained fingers proving they participated in a free and fair election for the first time in years, I cried.
To them, this was more than a vote. It was perhaps the first time in their lives the government valued their voice. Their voter turnout was 60% that year, despite the very real risk of violence.
During the 2004 U.S. presidential election, I was still stationed at Fort Campbell in Kentucky. That year, a slightly lower percentage of Americans voted than Iraqis months later.
Friends in the North were shocked voters reelected President George W. Bush, but living in the South as an active-duty soldier in a nation at war, I never had a moment’s doubt who would win. I still voted in that election, even knowing my vote wouldn’t change the outcome where I lived. I wanted my opinion heard anyway. I voted because I have always believed it is my civic duty and because I wouldn’t feel right complaining about the result if I hadn’t exercised my right to formally register my preference for president.
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
Some folks say: “My vote doesn’t really matter.” It can be hard to believe a single ballot can make a difference in a nation of more than 300 million people. And yet, each of those votes truly does matter. It is this cumulative effort of our fellow citizens choosing to show up in person or mail in a ballot that decides who will set the direction of the nation.
Though we often focus only on presidential elections, more is at stake.
In 2017, one vote would have changed who controlled the House of Delegates in Virginia — the tied vote was decided by chance instead. One single person who decided to stay home that day would have changed the result not only of that local election but also control of an entire body of state government, one responsible for raising or lowering taxes, funding schools and more.
Others complain: “I don’t like either candidate.” I can understand this sentiment. I’ve never agreed with every single position held by any candidate.
But elections aren’t like hopping on your smartphone and ordering an Uber or a Lyft to whatever destination you choose. They’re like going to a subway station and deciding which train to get on: You can only go one way or the other, so pick which one is best (or least bad) for you.
I’d urge anyone who doesn’t think Vice President Kamala Harris’ position is perfect on the situation in Gaza, environmental issues or anything else to look up where former President Donald Trump stands (or what his acolytes have laid out in Project 2025). Most Americans dislike his positions. We want reproductive freedom, common sense gun laws and more renewable energy.
Perhaps most important, though, we Americans still believe in democracy and oppose dictatorship. And we have just a few weeks to vote for Harris, the only candidate on the ballot who will definitely abide by election results, who will respect the rule of law, whom we can completely trust to hold elections again in four years so we can vote her out if she hasn’t delivered the results we want to see.
Trump has refused to say he will accept the results of the election, longs to be a dictator, has no respect for the rule of law and has said people won’t have to vote again. In January 2021, the United States experienced its first non-peaceful presidential transition because Trump refused to acknowledge the will of the voters.
The stakes are enormously high on every issue that matters, and the best way to convince yourself that our election is free and fair is to actually participate in it. Chances are strong that you’ll see a veteran working the polls this year — those of us who have deployed to countries without stable democracies are deeply invested in ensuring ours remains strong.
You don’t have to agree with Harris on every issue to show up and vote this year. What matters is that you vote for someone who will preserve our democracy and ensure you’ll be able to vote again in four years.
Please, make a plan: Check you registration and vote. The only way to preserve our democracy is for us to have the highest voter turnout ever and for the margin electing Harris to be so overwhelming that there can be no doubt about the outcome.
Kayla Williams is the author of “Love My Rifle More Than You: Young and Female in the U.S. Army.”
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