Your Voice, Your Vote

By Sonia Banker

Let’s travel back in time to 2020, the year the world shut down as coronavirus spread. I was sixteen years old, a sophomore in high school. Suddenly, my friends and I no longer communicated in the cafeteria during lunchtime or on the way to class. Our lives moved online. While time outside of school moved at a glacial pace, the news cycle seemed to be on hyperspeed. Almost overnight, everyone I knew began posting stories on Instagram that included an article from The New York Times accompanied by short and pithy reactions, like “unacceptable” or “act now.” It was as if, now that we were online, we had to have something to say about everything that was happening all the time. The word “activism” suddenly felt like this big, unaccomplishable task, yet it also felt like a requirement for young people. But we were just kids. How were we single-handedly going to change the world in a month? I began thinking about what activism meant, and I came to the revelation that it wasn’t as grand as one might think. 

Take Willie Velasquez for an example. An activist from Texas, Velasquez empowered Mexican American communities to vote and run for office in the 1970s. He famously uttered the words, “su voto es su voz,” which translates to “your vote is your voice” in English. After noticing the low voter turnout from members of his community, Velasquez strove to increase registration through the Spanish language. He held discussions around major issues, created local meeting spaces, and engaged the community in music and dance. Simply using his voice and allowing word of mouth to work its magic resulted in a voter registration increase of over sixty percent. 

Teenagers are experts at using our voices. It’s our specialty. We share social media trends, celebrity gossip, and fashion recommendations with one another like they’re playing cards. Our friends are the best advertisements for things. When our friends encourage us to do something (as opposed to a complete stranger), we’re more likely to do it. So be the friend who spreads the message about civic engagement in the same way you’d spread a TikTok. The more friends you encourage to vote just by having a conversation, the more they actually begin to think about voting. Soon, you will have created a community like Velasquez. In my opinion, the words “su voto es su voz” are more relevant today than ever before. Voice and vote are inextricably linked. In whatever form it takes, your voice is your most powerful tool, and using it can change the world, one conversation at a time. 

Sonia Banker is majoring in Political Science. She is the Editor-in-Chief of Penn Political Review and a former opera singer with a love for classical music.