Because Black Votes Matter.

• Date: 01 December 2022
• Author: Wiggins-Chavis, Linda

I was a nonvoter for twenty-five years because I believed the lie that my vote didn't matter.

I am fifty-five years old and previously a nonvoter. My history of voting is short; I've done it only four times in my life--once in my twenties and then not again until I was fifty-one. The first time I voted in a presidential election was in 2020.

I knew nothing about the process the first time I voted. I went to the polls to choose a mayor, but I was not expecting a ballot with candidates for other races, along with various amendments and referendums. I had no idea what to do. And unfortunately, after selecting a mayoral candidate, I just voted for the other candidates randomly.

The process not only intimidated me, I also felt embarrassed and irresponsible for voting for people and issues I knew nothing about. I didn't pay much attention to politics back then, so I didn't research the candidates or the issues. I did what I thought I was supposed to do: simply vote, and that was enough. The whole experience was discouraging.

Although that incident only heightened the disinterest I had in politics, the main reason I became a nonvoter was because I was influenced by the lie that my vote didn't matter--a lie that Black people are consistently told in this country, and one that many of us have bought into. So, for the next twenty-five years, I didn't vote.

I...