40 Days to the Midterms: Why Every Vote Matters

In 40 days, we will either overwhelm the polls, or we will hand our future to people who never had to earn it.

Across generations, the number 40 has marked a period of trial, of preparation, of testing before something new begins. We are in that period; the final stretch before the midterm elections. For many of us, the exhaustion is real, trust in institutions is thin, and a lot of people are asking themselves whether voting even matters.

To everyone who is sick and tired of being sick and tired, I hear you. But we have to continue to fight for the future we want. 

After 250 years, this American Experiment hasn't delivered its promises for everyone. It's broken in ways that are obvious to anyone paying rent, filling a prescription, or watching their child's school lose resources year after year. I understand why some people are tired of being told to vote as if that alone fixes anything.

But after decades of social justice work, I can tell you that not voting doesn't punish the politicians who've let us down. It just gives your power away to other people, free of charge.

Your vote is the most important currency you have. It is the one thing every citizen holds equally, regardless of income, zip code, or last name. When we deposit that currency together, collectively, as a community, we get the government we vote for. Not the government created by people who count on you to stay home. Not the government that makes it harder for people to vote so they can continue to make the wealthiest even richer. Not the government hellbent on starting a war in Iran, or covering up the Epstein Files, or deliberately increasing the cost of gas and deploying ICE into our neighborhoods. With our vote, we can elect leaders who will actually look out for their constituents instead of working to get reelected. 

Because every vote from us is a vote for us. 

How OUR VOTES Shape Our Schools, Health Care, Roads, and Rights

The Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act are a direct result of our vote. The Affordable Care Act was a direct result of our vote.

Voting is how we all decide who gets taxed and who doesn't, and what those dollars build or fail to build. It shows up in whether our roads get fixed, whether our children's schools are funded, whether our seniors age with dignity, and whether the next generation has a fair shot.

When government runs amok — when oversight and accountability disappear — the results are everywhere: in the price of groceries and gas, in poor food safety decisions, in wars overseas, and in federal police terrorizing neighborhoods. 

Decisions our elected officials make touch us all, in more ways than we even notice at first. 

We the People Control our future

For our young people, voting is how your future is decided. Your hopes and your dreams can and will be affected by who holds office. 

Realizing those dreams requires more than ambition. It requires civic responsibility. It requires being an active voter, being present, refusing to sit on the sideline. Never give away your power. Your voice — your vote — is how you participate in shaping the very future you're hoping to inherit.

Real power in America has never belonged to the people we elect. It belongs to us first. The Constitution begins with three words that settle the question: We the People. Elected officials don't have power on their own; they borrow it from us, and Election Day is when we decide who gets to borrow it next. That power is only real when we use it, together, focused and diligent, to make things happen or to stop bad things from happening.

Don't vote alone: Bring 5 friends

So here is my challenge, with 40 days left to the midterm elections: do you have five friends you can tap on the shoulder and bring to the polls? Do you have two friends who each have five friends who will do the same? Don't vote alone. Make a plan with your family. Make a plan with your church. Make a plan with your coworkers, your neighbors, your group chat. There are people counting on this election going unnoticed, on turnout staying low enough that a small, motivated few can decide it for the rest of us. They cannot steal what we fight for. 

Make your plan to vote

That's exactly why the NAACP has launched a multi-million-dollar Get Out the Vote program this cycle, working to mobilize more than 6.5 million voters across 33 congressional districts. We are already knocking on doors, making calls, and building the exact kind of five-friends network I'm asking you to build in your own life. In these next 40 days, I want you to join us.

Forty days is enough time to prepare. It is enough time to plan when you'll vote, how you'll get there, and who you're bringing with you. As John Lewis wrote in his op-ed published after his death, "democracy is not a state, it is an act."

Visit your state's official election website for more information and act now. However you choose to vote, do it on or before November 3rd. Remember, if your vote didn't matter, people wouldn't be working this hard to block access to the ballot box. The power belongs to We the People.

We get the government we vote for. Let's vote for the one our families and our futures deserve.