By: Jessica

In reply to Rose.

i think it is problematic to “shame” people in a sense for not voting because other people fought for their right to vote. Many people have fought for many rights over the course of history – I recognize their contributions, and in certain cases appreciate them, but I am not bound to participate in a system with which I disagree because the mainstream (white) suffragettes’ movement threw people of color and poor people under the bus in their rush to get the right to vote for (upper) middle-class white women.

It is incredibly true that voting is meaningful in the sense that it is a right denied to numerous people – in this day and age, legally denied to people who are imprisoned, people who are on probation, and in certain states (such as my home state of Florida), to people who have been convicted of felonies (even if they have completed probation). That is why I decided to vote, even though I am anti-statist.