Linda D. Scott, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, FADLN, FNAP, FAAN, President, American Academy of Nursing

 

DOI: 10.1016/j.outlook.2024.102277

 

As President Barack Obama stated, "there's no such thing as a vote that doesn't matter." His words speak plainly and ever so poignantly to the importance of voting. Throughout history however, the suffrage movement has been tumultuous as individuals fought for the right to vote. Establishing democracies, in which the power is vested in the people to elect their representatives in government, has been a unifying rallying cry for movements, uprisings, and wars over centuries. The price paid to stand up or uphold a democracy has been vast as countless lives have been lost in its pursuit.

 

Democracy and suffrage timelines vary around the globe with some countries having stronger voting laws and more robust participation than others. In fact, more than half of countries and territories have compulsory voter registration, with some issuing fines if an individual eligible to vote does not register (Schumacher and Connaughton, 2020). Many of the countries with compulsory voting registration laws are located in Europe and Latin America. The predominate age for voting around the globe is 18 years old with a few countries having the age requirement as young as 16 and others as old as 25 (Schumacher and Connaughton, 2020).

 

Today, to put it so purely and with great emphasis “there’s no such thing as a vote that doesn’t matter.”