Time to Vote

Election Day has arrived in the United States, marking a pivotal moment for our country. This year’s election carries an immense weight, with decisions that will shape our shared future, especially at the presidential level. While our readers may hold varied perspectives on the issues at stake, there are unifying principles we can hopefully all agree upon: the value of our democracy and the importance of exercising our right to vote. We hope you will do so in the time it would usually take to read a day’s worth of posts here on the site.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been reflecting on our bikepacking trip through Uganda nearly a decade ago, when we rode through the country and established a route there just as their presidential election unfolded. The entire country was abuzz in the weeks leading up to the general election. I remember hearing that nearly 100 percent of eligible voters were predicted to head to the polls, fully committed to civic participation. Some folks had to walk or pedal a hundred kilometers to do so. Our low voter turnout here in the U.S. is sad by comparison; even in 2020, during a record-setting voter turnout, we only saw two-thirds of the voting-eligible population cast their ballot.

During the second week of our trip, we passed through Lira, a mid-sized town that was hosting a political rally featuring Museveni’s closest opponent, Kizza Besigye. Despite being warned to stay away from political events, we eagerly accepted when two men at our hotel invited us to accompany them. The energy was palpable, and it was clear—there and everywhere we went in Uganda—that people had hope and wanted their voices to be heard. Despite the momentum, Yoweri Museveni, the country’s incumbent ninth president, won that election. Museveni has held that position since 1986, making him the world’s third-longest-serving non-royal national leader currently in office. He continues to bend the system to ensure that he remains in power, even having his opponents imprisoned to help cement his lifelong presidency. To me, this is an eerie cautionary tale as well as a reminder of how fortunate we are to live in a country where each of our votes counts—if only we bother to cast them.

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