As Americans get bombarded by a 24-hour media cycle filled with political sound bites, finger-pointing and endless social media ads, our country has never been more distracted.
It’s easy to miss the progress we have made in ensuring our democracy endures.
As the U.S. Constitution was being written, deciding how voting would work in our constitutional republic was described by Founding Father James Madison in 1821 as a “task of peculiar delicacy.”
Finding it too difficult to agree on the issue, the Founders left it to the states. Article 1 Section 4 of the newly drafted U.S. Constitution gave the states the authority to decide the “The Times, Places, and Manner of holding Elections.”
And that they did.
Public voice voting in the town square was popular in most states until the early 1800s. As we progressed into the 19th century, newspapers began printing blank ballots for voters to mark.
Later, political parties began printing “tickets” that looked like train tickets to make it easier for a voter to cast their ballot for all of one party’s slate of candidates.
During wartime, ballots were collected from soldiers and delivered to the ballot box by a man on a horse, the origins of absentee voting.
In the 20th century, the invention of new technology meant that we progressed from marking paper ballots by hand to using mechanical lever machines and then punch-card machines.
In the 21st century, computerization decreased our reliance on hand-counted ballots as we transitioned to scanned paper ballots and direct-recording electronic devices to tally the votes.
Today, we use advanced cybersecurity measures like intrusion detection systems and encryption to ensure the integrity and security of elections.
Technology in elections is not nearly as important as the role the voter plays in our elections. An election is only a reflection of voters who cast their ballots.
As our nation first sketched out what democracy would look like in America, only white male landowners were entitled to vote. By 1860 our city’s namesake, Andrew Jackson, had successfully led efforts to expand the right to vote to white men who did not own land. For the first time in America, voting did not depend on one’s personal wealth or economic status.
After the Civil War, Congress passed the 15th Amendment to the Constitution to ensure no man was denied the right to vote because of his race. This promise did not begin to be realized until 1965 when Congress approved the Voting Rights Act which outlawed discriminatory practices like poll taxes and literacy tests.
Women worked for decades to win the right to vote in all 50 states which was achieved with the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1920.
With the rise of student activism during the Vietnam War, a movement to lower the voting age from 21 to 18 gained steam and the 26th Amendment was signed into law.
In 1990, Congress passed the Americans with Disabilities Act, part of which requires state and local governments to ensure that people with disabilities have universal access and opportunity to vote in all elections.
Samuel Adams called voting “one of the most solemn trusts in human society for which he is accountable to God and his country.”
Having an appreciation for voting and the storied history of American democracy does little to preserve our Constitutional freedoms.
It is only when we take action, when we cast our ballot ourselves, that we accomplish what our Founders intended.
This year, remember that your children, your grandchildren and all future Americans are counting on your vote to protect our future and preserve our freedoms.
Duval County Supervisor of Elections Jerry Holland assumed office July 1, 2023, for a term ending July 1, 2027. Holland was Duval County property appraiser from 2015-23 and served on the Jacksonville City Council from 1999-2005.