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Is Democracy Important?

Why do I ask when I CAN'T vote?

By Shanon NormanPublished 2 years ago Updated 2 years ago 3 min read
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Money, Politics, History, Rights; All part of being American.

I have a stray cat friend who recently became a mother of five kittens. I have been feeding her for almost two months and just met her kittens. I am on a fixed income and cat food is not cheap. It all started because I shared my can of tuna fish with her. Now I've adopted one of her kittens, which means I will have pet expenses as a responsible pet caretaker. What does this cat scenario have to do with voting or democracy or government? More than some would think in my opinion.

When I was homeless, there were stray cats and dogs that I wanted as a companion, but I did not help them or claim them because it was not the right situation or the responsible thing to do. If I couldn't take care of myself, how could I claim to be able to care for a pet?

Last week I re-applied for the food stamps benefit. I still have my EBT card, but my benefits ended in August and I did not re-apply because there was enough food stocked up and I wasn't concerned about it. When I sat down at the computer last week and used all of my patience and know-how to complete the online application, I wondered how long it would take to receive the EBT credits and if I would get "approved". In the past, it usually took about three weeks for an answer. Less than a week passed and I received a notification in the mail regarding the box I had checked in the application about voting. The question was "Do you want to register to vote?" It did not ask if I was a felon or say that I was disqualified so I checked the box. The notice I received stated that I had to fill out that form if I wanted to register to vote and also stated that felons could not register. Knowing that I have a felony on my record, I threw the form in the garbage.

Then I sat at my table listening to the stray cat cry and meow at my door for free cat food so that she can continue to nourish her kittens and I wondered how the voting form reached me before the answer regarding my food benefit. It seemed to me as if priorities were mixed up.

Diagnosed Bipolar and a recipient of Social Security income, I chatted with the stray cat and explained that she's not the only one who has to beg for help. She just meows loudly and I go running to fetch her bowl and food instead of making her sign forms and making her wait for weeks with questions.

Last night I looked up some statistics out of curiousity. I reside in the state of Florida. According to google, the population of Florida is 21.5 million people. Of those people, 1.5 million are felons who are not allowed to vote. I am in the 1.5 million group. Half a million people can't vote for other reasons. So only 19.5 million people CAN vote in Florida. My next question is this: Out of 19.5 million people, how many votes come in for Florida at every election? How many of the people who can vote, actually do vote? I will check the statistics on that question, but for now thinking about those numbers and that question seems more significant than finding out what people really think about voting or democracy. I think the answer for the question of "How many of the 21.5 million people actually vote?" will shed some light on whether or not Americans really believe in Democracy.

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About the Creator

Shanon Norman

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