Tuesday’s election is important on a number of issues, from who will represent Louisiana in the United States Senate to vital constitutional issues involving state finances, from investing state funds to how Louisiana’s tax structure will work.

Runoff elections in two of the River Parishes will affect the quality of life in St. Charles and St. James parishes.

The right to vote is a sadly underestimated one – one hears much debate and concern over issues involving free speech, free press, freedom of religion and the right to bear arms. The right to vote, one of the central issues of the American Revolution, seems under-appreciated.

In many nations around the world, people fight and die, just as we once did, for the right to cast a ballot in a free election. Here in America, we won that issue, but too many people fail to exercise that right.

Voting is central to the responsibilities of being a citizen. We all have opinions, and we should express them. However, what more often happens is a minority of those people registered to vote, themselves only a portion of those who could qualify to vote, are active in elections. It is the rule of the few over the many – something Americans fought and died to defeat.

It is our right to cast a vote. It is our responsibility, as good citizens, to vote. Should you choose not to vote, your opinion becomes without value.

Even in the years since the Revolution, women struggled and fought for the right to vote, as did the slaves and descendants of slaves. They paid a high price to win that right, but nowadays, it is sometimes hard to recognize.

There is no good excuse not to register to vote and to vote. We should approach voting with enthusiasm and happiness, cheerful in enjoying that vital right to vote.

Support the issues and candidates of your own choosing. Then do the right thing and make that support known in the ballot box.

L’Observateur