Vol. 62 No. 41 | Thursday, October 13, 2022

Michelle Obama: “Don’t Take Anything For Granted’

The former First Lady’s recent remarks during National Voter Registration Week

Voice & Viewpoint Staff

Tuesday, November 8, 2022, will be a big deal. On that day, the U.S. will hold its midterm elections, where all 435 seats in the House of Representatives and 35 of the 100 seats in the Senate will be decided. Thirty-nine state and territorial gubernatorial elections and other crucial state and local elections will be contested. As the first election to follow the 2020 census-related redistricting, a lot is at stake. Former First Lady, Michelle Obama, is playing her part to encourage the nation to get out and register to vote and, then to, all importantly, vote.

Here’s an excerpt of what Mrs. Obama had to say September 19, 2022 to voter registration volunteers at a recent National Voter Registration Week kick-off rally ahead of National Voter Registration Day, an annual event held September 20th to help hard to reach Americans get registered to vote:

Everyone knows we are just 50 days away from the midterm elections. This fall voters are going to cast ballots to decide who represents us. And the interesting thing is that it’s going to cover all the bases. Folks who are representing us in Washington, in the State House, in City Hall, on our school boards, you name it.

These midterm elections are important. Everything from health care, to education to climate change, to how your communities are policed to the judges who determine the justice that we get, all those things are on the ballot.

But here’s the thing. Not everybody gets it. The reasons are varied and justifiable. Folks are tired. Some folks don’t trust government. Others don’t really buy into this idea of a shared democracy. A lot of folks feel let down or they feel unseen by this process.

For too many reasons, especially when it comes to people of color, young people… folks stay home on election day.

Former First Lady Michelle Obama at the Obama’s official White House portrait unveiling ceremony in the East Room of the White House on Wednesday, September 7, 2022.

PHOTO: Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via AP Images

A vote can change not only who’s in the governor’s mansion, but how many potholes we have to dodge on our way to work, the lessons that our kid’s textbooks teach them at school. You guys know that every single vote matters.

I want you to think about six people in our orbits that we overlook. Friends and family. Neighbors. You don’t even have to get to the people you don’t know. You don’t have to talk to anybody who disagrees with you. All you have to do is talk to the folks in your orbit and make sure that they are registered and ready to vote.

If we do that, if we think about every election like that, there is no telling the kind of impact we can have on this election. That’s how Barack Obama became president. Don’t take anything for granted.

We have to continue to think that way. That’s how we fight back against the folks who are cutting back our right to vote. It’s as simple as that. That’s how we silence the folks who want us to believe that our votes don’t matter. They want us to stay at home. By instilling an urgency in everyone we know about this election, we combat all of that. All of it.

I don’t care what laws have been passed or what have you. All we have to do is get folks who are eligible and able to vote, [to] register. That’s all we have to do.

The margin of victory, the margin of losing our right to a good criminal justice system, our right to decide what we do with our bodies, you know, all of that is decided in these races by handfuls of votes. I want you to call your friends. Text them. Whatever you do, tell them that voting is no joke.

I want you to think about the feelings you’ve had the morning after the last few elections because, let me tell you, I’m gonna be honest with you, the last few elections haven’t felt completely felt fun to me when I’ve looked at some of the outcomes. And I know that feeling of just, “Where are we? What is going on?” I want you to think about whether you felt good or if you were left wondering if you did enough.

I want to feel like, “I have done everything in my power to let people know what is at stake so I can just sleep at night.” I’m asking you to ask yourself that question and I want you to spend the next 50 days doing everything you can to wake up on November 9th proud of the work that you did to get your entire community registered and ready to vote this year.