Vote Like your Life Depends on it, Because it does
By Woodie Lesesne
The 2026 election season is unlike anything many of us have seen before. Vote like your life, your livelihood, your family’s well-being, your job, and your business (if you own one) depend on it. They do.
If you’re paying attention, and discerning about what you take in, you already know it: massive change is coming for all of us. The country is shifting. The world is shifting. More people than ever are asking themselves what is truly valuable and what truly matters.
We’ve Been Here Before. But Not Like This.
A moment of change isn’t new. History is full of them. What’s different now is the depth. With the rise of AI reshaping how we work, earn, learn, and live, the changes ahead may be life-altering in ways we haven’t yet seen. We are grappling with multiple BIG issues that changes our forseeable future and beyond. Average families are experiencing high cost at the gas pump, unnecessary wars, higher grocery bills, rising medical costs with fewer safety nets, ridiculous housing and insurance costs. On top of all that there are devasting hurricanes, lke the recent Hurricane Vance, Fires and record breaking flooding on the westcoast. Unpresented King tides, have affected my neighbors in Ft Lauderdale and Miami. I could go on. What we should realize is that we will never be the same. Keeping that in mind, the question is who gets a say how we are going to address these issues in a way that secures our survival as a species. Who will lead us towards what comes next, and that answer depends on who shows up at the polls, and then holds the elected officials accountable after the election.
Power over the years: Women and the Vote
It is clear that women’s votes have been felt at every level. Women have outnumbered men at the polls in every national election for more than half a century, and they turn out at the highest rates of any group. That matters in 2026. If this midterm follows past ones, 5 to 6 million more women than men will cast ballots, and a record number of women are on the ballot in state and national races. Women are on the ballot and at the ballot box, and they will help decide what comes next.
Women have never waited for permission to shape history. From Seneca Falls in 1848 to the ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920, generations of women organized, marched, and endured jail to win the vote. For many Black women and other women of color, that fight continued until the Voting Rights Act of 1965. In 1968, one of my all time sheroes Shirley Chisholm, became the first Black woman elected to Congress, and in 1972 she ran for the Democratic presidential nomination under the banner “Unbought and Unbossed.” She didn’t win, but she broke a barrier and made it easier for every woman who followed.
More History: When People Showed Up
There are so many instances in history where the people spoke up and showed out for change. Here are just a few examples.
Selma and the Civil Rights Movement. In March 1965, marchers crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, demanding the right to vote. They were met with violence on what became known as Bloody Sunday. They kept marching, and that year the Voting Rights Act became law. Ordinary people, many of them young, changed the course of American democracy by refusing to stay home.
Tiananmen Square, 1989. Students, workers, and citizens filled the square in Beijing demanding reform and accountability. The movement was crushed, and it did not win the change it sought. But more than three decades later it is still a symbol of how deeply people yearn for a voice. Many people on this earth would give anything for a free ballot. We have one.
France, right now. What began as student protests over education this fall grew into nationwide demonstrations on October 17 over the cost of living. On October 24, 410,000 people took to the streets by the Interior Ministry’s count, and unions reported 800,000. A nationwide strike and day of demonstrations is set for November 5. People there are telling their government, in every way possible, that the cost of simply existing has become too much. Sound familiar?
The Pain Is the Common Thread
Here is what unites us: unless you’re a billionaire, you are feeling it, farmers and small business owners and your local bakery, from big cities to small towns, every industry has its own challenges, but the common denominator is that the cost of basic essentials keeps climbing while a rising number of people can’t keep up. Base bages do not meet the basic needs for many families and making the decision between food, medicine or a roof over their head has become too commonpace.
So ask the real questions. What is the source of the pain? Who has the power to address it? And how do we remove that pain? The answer starts at the ballot box.
Be Voters. Be Educated Voters.
In the United States, our democratic system gives qualified citizens the right to choose their leaders. At a time when that right is being challenged, using it matters even more. Here’s how to put that into practice:
Check your registration and confirm your polling place and voting options (early voting, mail-in, Election Day) with your state or local election office. Rules vary by state, so don’t go by what you heard from a friend.
Get educated. Read about the candidates and the issues on your ballot. Use nonpartisan voter guides and your official state election website. Don’t rely on one feed or one opinion.
Break it down for others. Not everyone has time to dig into the details. If you understand an issue, explain it to a neighbor, a coworker, a relative.
Bring your people. Encourage your family, friends, sorority sisters, fraternity brothers, civic group members, church family, and everyone you meet to vote. Offer rides. Go together.
Make a plan. Pick your day, your time, and your ride. Confirm what ID your state requires. Election Day is Tuesday, November 3.
Why I Vote
My mother (1931–2025) became an American citizen years after arriving in the U.S. in the late 1960's from Jamaica. From that point, she rarely missed an election. Mama cast her last in person ballot in the 2024 Presidential election at age 93. We went to the polls together, as we had so many times before. It is s tradition we established decades ago, and I haved share that tradition of voting with my own sons.
Mama loved this country and was proud to be a citizen, as am I. Her Jamaican roots fostered a fighting spirit and she believed in justice and that people always have a voice, but they must use it. For her, voting was one way to express her view on how things should be and a way to exercise her power. She believed in standing up for yourself and for your rights. She said if you don't stand up for yourself, people will walk all over you.
That same fire and desire should burn in all of us. Women fought for generations to win this right, but it only means something when everyone uses it. This country belongs to its citizens, period, full stop. We take ownership when we show up and cast our vote for what and who we want to represent us.
No Excuses
If you won’t do it for yourself, do it for your children and grandchildren, the next generation we owe a responsibility to. Those who stood on that bridge in Selma, filled that square in Beijing, and fill the streets of France today were all telling us the same thing: your voice matters, and someone is always trying to take it or ignore it.
Don’t hand it over. Vote.
For more info: votemiamidade.gov
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