Tomorrow, Tuesday, Nov. 5 is Election Day here in New Jersey and across America. It is a very important day because each November, we get a chance to decide our collective future. It may not always seem so, but who gets elected because a voter does or does not vote directly affects us and our communities.
From deciding on a municipal or state budget, environmental and quality of life issues, taxation rates or new criminal justice laws for example — who represents us and our interests is something we have some control over. By making sure that we take a few minutes to stop by our voting precinct or sending in a Vote By Mail ballot, one takes control of their destiny and that for their community.
Voting is the one thing we all can do as Americans to honor the sacrifices of all those who came before us. And those who fought and died for our right to vote and be free. Whether it was at the Battles of Trenton or the Suffragists Protests or the Edmund Pettis Bridge in Selma, Alabama, our fellow Americans sacrificed their safety, liberty and freedom so we could maintain ours.
No example of such sacrifice is clearer than when one visits Normandy, France and especially, Omaha Beach and the American Military Cemetery standing about it. Recently, my family and I were able to take part in the 75th Anniversary of D-Day Boy Scout Jamboree and felt blessed to visit such a special and sacred place.
One does not forget seeing the rows of thousands of white crosses and Stars of Davids marking the graves of all who fell in the D-Day invasion and the days afterward. Sadly, there are many graves marking the burial of an unknown soldier, sailor or airmen with gravestone saying “Here Rest In Honored Glory A Comrade In Arms Known But to God”.
Please honor all who have died serving our country and those freedom fighters in our past by voting this Tuesday. Whether you vote for me to represent Ewing, Hopewell, Lawrence, Pennington, Trenton, West Windsor in the New Jersey Assembly or someone else — please serve your community and Vote!
Jennifer Williams is an assembly candidate for Legislative District 15 in New Jersey.
JenForLD15@gmail.com; jenforld15.com.
