By Jill Bold/campus editor

A vote is power.

Eliminating the barriers to obtaining a voter registration card could have the potential to inject more participation into U.S. elections.

The 2016 presidential election brought up questions of election tampering and voter suppression, and with the resulting Electoral College fiasco causing such a shocking outcome, voter rights are more important than ever as the 2020 presidential election looms ahead.

It is time for all voters to be prepared.

Voting rights are the basis of democracy in this country, and the power of “one person, one vote” cannot be emphasized strongly enough.

Many groups of American citizens are subjected to disenfranchisement, meaning they can’t vote, or voting has been made quite difficult for them by design.

Groups defined by gender, race, socioeconomic status and legal status have endured varying degrees of disenfranchisement since the birth of this nation.

Today, most adults are eligible to vote. This fact doesn’t stop certain political factions and many interest groups from trying to keep voter participation as low as possible.

Many Americans also renew their driver’s licenses on their 18th birthday and register to vote at that time.

The rules and regulations regarding that process vary from state to state.

If a citizen moves, then new voting rules and eligibility standards will apply. They might not be eligible right away, or even for a long time.

This phenomenon occurs every fall semester as millions of college freshman journey away from their hometowns to attend college elsewhere.

Therein lies both the problem and the solution. The problem is that a person’s right to vote doesn’t follow them around unconditionally all over the nation.

Advancing and expanding voting rights must be an issue of importance for our nation to thrive. Democracy demands that its citizens participate by voting as often as possible.