VOTING MATTERS

PAGE ONE

Panel 1

A horizontal panel running across the top of the page with the words, “Why Does Voting Matter?” in an ornate script.

Panel 2

A line of voters waiting for their turn at the voting machine. The voter at the front of the line is an elderly person with a walker. In front of them, four more voters are casting their ballots at voting booths. A sign on the wall reads, “DO NOT GIVE THEM WATER.”

CAPTION: It is said that voters either fall in love or fall in line.

CAPTION: And I’m not sure which is more depressing…

Panel 3

Uncle Sam, in a full stars-and-stripes tuxedo and top hat, aims a gun toward the right side of the panel, but instead of a bullet out pops a flag that reads “My One True Love 2024”

CAPTION: …the idea that we need to vote based on some weird cult of personality…

Panel 4

A billboard showing a generic older white man with the words, “Bill: The Pork & Beans Candidate.”

CAPTION: …or that we should vote like it’s a trip to the DMV.

CAPTION: Luckily, we don’t need to do either. We vote, not because we’re in love with a candidate or because it’s some sort of civic-minded root canal, but simply because…

PAGE TWO

Panel 1

A line of seven people of various ages, genders, and races.

CAPTION: …it saves lives.

Panel 2

A close up, exterior shot of the Capitol.

CAPTION: A study shows that 1.1 million Americans could die in the next decade, simply because Medicare doesn’t cover all their medications.

CAPTION: CIDSA.org, November 18, 2020, https://www.cidsa.org/publications/xcenda-summary

Panel 3

A boy sits on a wooden chair as a doctor listens to his heart with a stethoscope. On the wall is a poster that reads “WE’RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER” over an image of a crown, in the style of British World War II morale posters.

CAPTION: On a more personal, anecdotal level, my own father was a boy living in an orphanage when Britain passed the National Health Service in 1948. Soon after, he visited a doctor for the first time in his life and was found to have severe malnutrition. 

CAPTION: They put him on dietary supplements that likely saved his life.

Panel 4

Close up on the poster from the previous panel.

CAPTION: He told me that it was the first time it ever occurred to him that it mattered to people whether he lived or died.

CAPTION: And it was all because people voted for it.

Panel 5

A volunteer standing near a voting booth waves at a person leaving the polls. The voter waves back.

CAPTION: And there are untold numbers of people just like him, here in America, who will live or die based on how you vote in 2024.

CAPTION: Don’t think of yourself as voting for a party. Or a candidate. Think of yourself as voting for the people you love.

VOLUNTEER: Thanks for voting!

CAPTION: And for people who don’t have anyone else.