Editor’s Note: This letter is in response to Anayo Ordu’s Tuesday column, “Voter apathy is absolutely pathetic.”
I am writing in response to Anayo Ordu’s column persuading others to vote. She states that if you are eligible to vote, you “need to” and that no excuse for the contrary will suffice. Ordu continues, “Voting should be federally required, like filing taxes.”
I agree that voting is a privilege that should not be taken for granted. However, it is a privilege, not a requirement. I wholeheartedly wish that the masses would educate themselves on the issues and then vote accordingly (whether it would agree with my personal opinions or not).
Unfortunately, this is not the case. Political ignorance runs rampant throughout our country. While encouraging people to get out and vote seems justifiable at first glance, it has unforeseen consequences.
If people do not care enough to vote without encouragement, one could logically reason that they are not politically informed. This type of person, if prodded enough, could register to vote and then follow through, basing their vote on information they’ve garnered from those horrid, negative political ads. Do we want this type of person influencing the direction of our country based on nothing more than slander?
Providing ample opportunity to vote is necessary. Prodding people to vote until they feel socially pressured to do so is reprehensible. If people wish to remain uninformed, it is their right to do so; I simply ask you not to pressure them into voting rashly. Ordu’s advocacy of a mandate to vote is not only unconstitutional, it is ignorant.
