CaraLive's Blog

On Wednesday, during the Democratic National Convention, I was live on location covering the event on my radio show. During the last 3 minutes of the show, I received a call from a man who identified himself as “Max.” He asked “what is the point of voting?” Out of curiosity, I immediately looked down at the switchboard on my screen to see that the call was from Florida. Initially, I paused because I wanted to see if he had an additional comment to include as to why he posed the question. Then, I realized that he is serious.

At that moment, I didn’t know what to say. He was asking this question to someone who could not wait for the opportunity to register to vote. I actually registered 2 months prior to my 18th birthday.

My maternal grandparents left an indelible mark on my psyche regarding the voting process. For as long as I can remember, my grandfather was a poll worker. I never asked him why, but knowing his character, it was probably one way he could make sure that the process was fair.

Also, when I was in the second grade, I made my first trip to the polls with my grandmother. I stood in the voting booth and had many questions. Because I didn’t know that it was a private matter, I proceeded to ask loudly, who are you voting for; why are you voting; what’s a Democrat…….until she finally shhhhhh me and said she would explain it to me later. Although the height of the civil rights movement had ended a few years earlier, my grandmother never ever mentioned anything about the issues of race vs. voting. Although I lived in rural North Carolina, the reason could be is because my community was isolated from the cruelties of most the South. It is predominately Native American – over 90%. Therefore, we were minorities among a larger minority group. The Native Americans had officially ran the KKK away, so the Jim Crow effects were not as prevalent. After much discussion, I knew I wanted to vote.

So, when Max asked the question, it was incomprehensible to me. I was speechless. I only had 3 minutes left in the show and there was no way I could run down all the many reasons he should register and vote. My featured guest, Scott Lindsey, responded that “in my view, the point of voting is, you’re in a Democratic society where you can freely express without punishment who you are for – who you think will improve your life and you have a voice. The point of voting is to express that voice.”

 Then, another caller who identified himself as “Black Achievement” answered by asking “what’s the point of stopping at a red light?” Scott said, “one is so that you don’t get run over by oncoming traffic.” Black Achievement responded "that is why you should vote, so that you don’t get run over."

PLEASE REGISTER & EXERCISE YOUR RIGHT TO VOTE!