As someone who has spent a few nights in detention fighting for democracy, I have always considered the vote as something close to being sacred.
In a way, I saw it as an expression of not just citizenship, which allows one to exercise all the rights accorded a citizen, but also as the concentration of the human agency to effect changes through peaceful and rule-based manner. We struggled against military authoritarianism to ensure that we have the vote, even if not the substantive power, to make all the critical decisions that affect our lives. Of course our parents and grand parents also struggled against colonialism to ensure that they (and of course us) have the vote.
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