Marisa Glaswynn

As a veteran high school English teacher, I’m able to gain a lot of valuable insight into how young people perceive the world and their place in it. Particularly telling, I think, is how deeply Octavia E. Butler’s dystopian novel The Parable of the Sower resonates with my students.

Butler uses science fiction to examine a world where corporate oligarchs rule in luxury while the vast majority of Americans, abandoned by their government, are left to fend for themselves. Published in 1996, and set in 2026, the dismal future Butler foreshadowed can seem perilously close to becoming reality.

That is…if we let it!

My hope is that, with so much on the line, vast numbers of Michiganders will be motivated to make their voices heard by casting ballots this November.

If we want a government that serves the needs of all of us, we must send the message that we are highly engaged and intent on holding our elected officials accountable.

When we do that, we do so with the confidence that, whatever the number of ballots cast, people and procedures are in place to ensure a fair and accurate outcome.

It starts with locally elected clerks and other election officials who prove year after that they are up for the job of overseeing elections that have multiple safeguards built in.

Beyond that are the average citizens who sign up to become either a poll worker or a poll challenger, both of which provide the sort of transparency that guarantees elections are run to the letter of the law. To learn more about the different roles and how you can fill one, go here.

And if that is not for you, then ensure you protect your rights and the rights of others by voting and encouraging others to vote. Every citizen’s vote has a right to be counted!

However you choose to engage, the takeaway lesson is this:

The future has not yet been written. It is our story to tell, and it begins with using our votes to make our voices heard!