By Dr. John E. Warren, Publisher, San Diego Voice & Viewpoint Newspaper, Chairman of the Board, National Newspaper Publishers Association
Now that we are weeks away from the June Primary, the scramble is on for voter commitments. With millions of dollars continuing to be spent on radio and television ads, there remains a major problem with candidates finding dollars to carry their messages to the Black Voter via the Black Press and Black Media outlets. “We the People” should be questioning how candidates who can’t find our newspapers to get their messages to our Black voters can possibly find their way to represent our concerns, if elected to the offices they seek.
Let us not get depressed or disheartened because of the U. S. Supreme Court’s recent Decision on Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. While many are discussing the impact or potential impact of that Decision on Black Voters in particular, we don’t have to wait on those discussions. We can act now by deciding that we will not allow our votes to be taken for granted again. There are a number of Black Candidates on the June ballot. Let us not feel obligated to political parties and interests that are not in line with our own. Our percentage of the vote might be small, but it’s large enough to make a difference in who wins and advances to the general election in November. Not one of the top five gubernatorial candidates has reached out to us. If they do in the next three weeks, then we can reconsider their messages if they pertain to our interests.
And let us not forget the Congressional Seats and State Offices on our ballot. In the case of Congressional seats, we must send democrats to Congress, including the five seats now available because of the redistricting we recently approved here in California. California has 52 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. We can only defeat Trump by regaining control of the House and, hopefully, the Senate. While it appears that we are sending mixed messages about candidate votes, this scenario only goes to show that we must be engaged in our voting.
This is why the San Diego Voice & Viewpoint newspaper is holding a Town Hall Meeting on the Electoral Process on May 20th from 6 until 8 pm.
It appears that we can make a difference in all races on the June ballot. The only question is:
Will we break with past indifference and get engaged in this election, which can be life-changing for all of us? We might not be able to elect a Governor with our few votes, but we can make a difference in who gets elected to every office. Just as the lottery only takes one ticket to win, an election only takes one vote to win. Your vote can make the difference.
