Have you ever been upset about a government policy? Were you appalled by the Trump administration tearing children and babies away from their parents at the southern border? Do you fear that the environment is getting even more polluted? Do you worry that you or your family will lose health insurance? Or do you think it’s great that Donald Trump is cutting all immigration to the country and wants to appoint a Supreme Court judge who who will overturn the ruling Roe v. Wade, which will make abortion illegal in major parts of the country. If you feel any of these things, then the only way that you can make your voice heard is by casting your ballot in the Nov. 6th midterm elections for your Congressional, state and local representatives. No matter, what your political views, voting is the most effective way to express yourself. Marching and expressing your opinion on social media, won’t result in policies and laws — voting will. One Tree Hill and Chicago PD actress, Sophia Bush, is adamant that voting is a critical part of being an American citizen.
“There is nothing more important to do,’ she told HollywoodLife.com in an EXCLUSIVE interview at the Variety and Women in Film Pre-Emmy Party, Sept. 15th. “I don’t care if you are an entrepreneur, an influencer, a student or whatever. If you’re not a voter, I don’t care what you are.” Sophia passionately pointed out that “people have fought and died and sacrificed for our right to vote for equality in this country”. She is horrified that only 61% of eligible voters actually cast their ballots in the 2016 presidential election which sent Donald Trump to the White House. “That’s crazy to me,” she told HollywoodLife.com. “‘Voting’ is the thing that matters most that we do, because whether we realize it or not, every action we take is a vote. Everywhere we spend our dollars, everywhere we spend our time. We are signaling what we want and if we don’t take one day a year, whether it is midterm elections, local elections, the presidential election, to go out and signal what we want and what we believe in, then we have no right to complain, when we end up in a place like we’re in now,” she told us, exclusively. If you have not yet registered to vote in preparation of the Nov 6 mid terms, you can actually do it, right here in our Rock The Vote module, embedded below.
Sophia also ardently believes that the entertainment business, needs to have more women, minorities and LGBTQ people represented behind the camera as well as in front of it. “If you’re not having us in the room, it actually hurts your bottom line. It hurts your profitability. It’s not just a moral issue, it’s a fiscal one,” she explains. “You can’t accurately tell stories for an audience which is made up of men and women and people who are non binary and everyone in between, if you don’t have those voices represented,” she points out.
“For me, it’s such a no brainer. Why would we not want people who are exceptional”, she says. “I don’t get it.” Well, if you don’t get it too — why businesses and government don’t have people of all backgrounds represented in positions of power, and why there are many government policies that you are opposed to, then it’s time to register to vote ASAP and cast your ballot Nov.6. Sophia Bush says it best: “I want everyone to get out and vote!”
Reporting by Ali Stagnitta.