By Wayne M. Messam | Mayor, City of Miramar
Election Day | November 3, 2026
As Americans head to the polls this Election Day, I ask that we reflect on something far greater than the candidates on the ballot or the outcome of any particular race. I ask that we remember the extraordinary sacrifices made by those who came before us so that we could exercise one of the most fundamental rights of our democracy: the right to vote.
For many of us, voting has become routine. We enter a polling place, cast our ballot, and continue with our day. Yet the simple act of voting carries a history written in courage, struggle, suffering, and blood.
Following emancipation, formerly enslaved Black Americans fought to secure their rightful place as citizens in a nation that had denied their humanity. Even after the 15th Amendment, intimidation, violence, discriminatory laws, and systematic disenfranchisement stood between them and the ballot box.
Indigenous Americans endured generations of exclusion, even after gaining citizenship. Women organized, marched, protested, and endured imprisonment in their pursuit of equal voting rights. And during the Civil Rights Movement, brave Americans faced police brutality, threats, and even death simply for demanding that this nation honor its promise of democracy.
Too many people suffered. Too many people were beaten. Too many people bled and died.
Their sacrifices were not made for themselves alone. They were made for generations they would never meet, for children yet unborn, and for a future they could only imagine.
Today, nearly two centuries after the struggle for equal political participation gained momentum, and more than six decades after the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the distance of time can cause us to forget the magnitude of what was sacrificed.
We must never allow that history to become so distant that we take our rights for granted.
This responsibility also extends to naturalized American citizens. Many arrived from nations where democratic participation was limited, suppressed, or denied. Becoming an American citizen brings with it the remarkable opportunity to participate in shaping the government of one’s adopted country. That opportunity exists because generations of Americans fought to expand the promise of citizenship and representation.
Our vote gives us a voice in determining the direction of our communities, our state, and our nation. It allows us to participate in decisions affecting our families, our economic opportunities, our freedoms, and the preservation of rights that others struggled to secure.
We may disagree about candidates, policies, and the direction of our country. That is democracy. But regardless of our differences, we share a responsibility to respect and preserve the right of every eligible citizen to participate.
On this Election Day, I encourage every eligible American to reflect on the shoulders upon which we stand.
We cannot repay those who sacrificed their lives for our right to vote. But we can honor them by exercising that right.
Vote according to your conscience, your convictions, and your hopes for the future.
Let us never forget their sacrifice. Let us never take our freedom for granted. And let us ensure that those who suffered, struggled, bled, and died did not do so in vain.
