Though part of our country’s history has been men and women fighting and sometimes dying, for our voting rights, voting hasn’t always been an easy process.

In 1864, President Abraham Lincoln couldn’t cast his own ballot to be re-elected because his home state of Illinois required voters to be present at the polls, and the Civil War prevented him from leaving Washington.

On May 21, 2020, in consideration of the pandemic, the Illinois House approved expanding voting by mail in the November election funded by federal pandemic relief funds, thus tearing down one more barrier to residents exercising their right to vote. If you voted in the past two years or if you were registered to vote in the 2020 primary, you’ll automatically receive a vote-by-mail application. If not, you need only request one.

To find out if you’re registered, how to register (it only takes two minutes), polling locations, and more go to vote.org.

Voting by mail eliminates safety concerns, having to take time out of a busy day or work absenteeism, getting a babysitter, long lines at polling places, and a myriad of other reasons voting used took us out of our comfort zones.

As easy as the process has become, some citizens still don’t exercise their right, believing their one vote won’t matter. Yet, more than a dozen times in the past twenty years, a state or federal election has been decided by one vote. Every vote DOES matter.

Statistics from Charles Stewart, director of the MIT Election Data and Science Lab, should also put to rest any fears of increased voter fraud due to mail-in ballots. He has reported that the rate of fraud is only 0.00006%.

This November, we will be given the opportunity to not only decide our future by choosing our president but who will represent our interests on a local level. For example, we will be able to vote on the retention of circuit court judges who preside over child abuse cases, many of whom have very diverse records.

If you feel uninformed about your choices, there are bipartisan organizations to the rescue such as Injustice Watch that will provide you judge’s records on topics of personal interest to you. BE A WINNER IN 2020 AND VOTE!