More than half of the world’s population is living in countries that will head to the polls this year, according to Vital Voices, a nonprofit supporting female leaders around the globe. What does this worldwide referendum on democracy mean for women? That was the question at hand as ELLE, Argent, and the nonpartisan voting rights group When We All Vote gathered recently at the Vital Voices headquarters in Washington, D.C. on October 17 for a panel entitled “Your Voice is Your Vote.”
The iconic pink Argent suit—a favorite of political figures, including Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer—dotted the crowd, providing a visual reminder of Argent’s #VotingSuitsYou initiative. Throughout October and through Election Day on November 5, the women’s clothing label has joined with When We All Vote to mobilize voters with social media posts from a range of celebrities, activists, and athletes, wearing a new gender-neutral version of the suit and speaking to the importance of casting your vote. Argent’s Washington, D.C. and New York City store locations have been transformed into pink pop-ups where consumers can get toolkits with voter information, and a percentage of sales from the #VotingSuitsYou collection go to When We All Vote.
The talk, held the evening of October 17, was moderated by ELLE executive editor Sara Austin, who started by posing a basic question: Why don’t more Americans vote?
Symone Sanders-Townsend, political consultant and co-host of MSNBC’s “The Weekend,” described her work interviewing Black women across the country, which found that many younger people, including millennials like her, feel like their vote doesn’t truly matter. Each election is hyped as the most important of their lifetime, but then concrete results are hard to discern.
Young people all around the world are also increasingly attracted to authoritarian ideologies. “We’re not having a theoretical conversation about potentially losing democracies around the world,” Sanders-Townsend said. “It has happened. People have also wrestled away their rights and created democracies within our recent history around the world. It’s an experiment. So that’s why I think the conversations are so important. Reminding people of their power is so important.” The measure of a strong democracy and a strong economy is often how the women and children in that society are faring.
Activist Brittany Packnett Cunningham, founder and principal of the social impact agency Love & Power Works, agreed that it’s hard to get mad at people for feeling their vote doesn’t matter, given growing distrust in government institutions. But, she added, “If your vote did not matter, then there would not be so many people spending millions and millions of dollars putting out a whole bunch of mis- and disinformation and working every single day to make sure that you don’t show up.” Not voting may be seen as a political choice, Cunningham added, but it’s unlikely to be effective at making any changes you want to see: “Everything in our lives changes because we change it. So the idea that I cannot participate and simply will and wish things to exist has never been a plan that has worked for anybody in the history of the world.”
Conversations are your superpower in encouraging reluctant voters, said Olivia Julianna, an activist, organizer, and political influencer based in Houston. “I will talk to anyone about politics,” said Julianna, who has one million followers across TikTok, Twitter, and Instagram. “Because the fact of the matter is most people just want someone to ask them to get involved in the process. So even if you think it’s going to be an uncomfortable conversation, you could get someone involved just from asking them to be involved. You can help them navigate the process, especially if you live in a state like Texas where it’s so difficult to figure out.”
The evening closed on a note of positivity from each panelist: Julianna, 21, said she was feeling excited to vote for the first time for both a president and a senator, and to have candidates she genuinely believes in. Cunningham derives inspiration from her great-grandmother, Joanna, who was born enslaved and died free at age 98, having kept her 24 children intact rather than sold off during enslavement. “I have joy knowing that people like Joanna and millions of countless nameless ancestors of ours did far more with far less,” she said. “They didn’t just fight to protect democracy. They created democracy. They nurtured it from their bosom. They fed it when they weren’t even allowed to participate in it.”
Sanders shared that she derives hope from the fact that so many people are willing to participate—showing up and standing on line for political rallies hours before the candidate arrives. “The people who show up to political rallies, regardless of the candidate that they’re showing up for, they are showing up because they believe that this person can do something to make their life a better place,” she said.
“I truly do believe that the people have the power. And the biggest grift in the world, frankly, is that people have been convinced that they don’t...People have organized in Texas, in Georgia, in Florida and Arizona, in North Carolina, in South Carolina. People have been hit by hurricanes, homes decimated, and they are talking about, ‘How can I get my ballot to the ballot box?’ That makes me excited about this American experiment. Yes, maybe I was crying the other night just thinking about this, because it is a privilege that people all over this globe do not have.”
Early voting is well underway in many states across the country. To register to vote, visit the voting guide from ELLE and When We All Vote.
