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RN Clout
Through the ballot box, nurses have the power to drive legislative action

By Beth Ulrich, Ed.D., RN, South CentralEditor
October 28, 2002

I served on a jury this week. It wasn't a headline type of case. We had to decide whether a man had possessed cocaine with intent to deliver.What struck me as interesting and disappointing was the number of people in the last two weeks that asked me why I couldn't get out of serving. It seems that finding a way out of serving on a jury is more normal to the general public than actually doing one's civic duty.

Although most Americans hold dear our rights and liberties, contributing to what makes our judicial system work does not appear to rank high on many people's list of priorities.

Then, a couple of days ago, I received an e-mail from one of my nephrology nursing colleagues, discussing the upcoming election and encouraging me to vote. She pointed out some amazing numbers:

34 Senate seats are up for election, including 20 seats held by Republicans and 14 seats held by Democrats. With retirements, one senator running for governor and one senator who lost in the primary, this election will produce a minimum of six new senators.
All 435 representatives in the House are up for election. In the redistricting that takes effect with this election, eight states (including Texas) gained new seats in the House and 10 states (including Oklahoma) lost seats. This redistricting, along with retirements, primary defeats and other changes, will result in at least 46 new members of the House.
36 states have gubernatorial elections. With 15 incumbent governors not eligible to run because of term limits and six choosing not to seek re-election, at least 21 new governors will be elected.
47 state elections will take place for 6,314 state legislative seats (86 percent of all state legislative seats).

Given these numbers, it is obvious that this is an important election year, even without the offices of president and vice president being voted upon. As we saw when one senator changed parties during this last term, even a small change can have a major impact.

· Is voting a hassle? It sure can be. Polls that are open only from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. are not accommodating for the nurse working that same shift. Taking time off in the middle of a shift isn't the easiest thing in the world to do either. Is it depressing to listen to all the campaign ads? You bet it is, especially when they've become as negative on almost all sides, as those in Texas have. We not only have negative ads, we have negative ads that counter other negative ads. I suspect that by Election Day, these ads will have reached the fourth or fifth generation of negativity.

Is voting important? Absolutely. Voting, like serving on juries, is not only our right as Americans, it is our responsibility and we should appreciate that it is our privilege as well.

America has more than 2 million nurses. It is not a fantasy to think that we have the potential to influence the course that our nation follows. It is a fantasy if we don't exercise our right to vote.

Discuss this and other topics with your colleagues at www.nurseweek.com/rnvillage