John Lewis Quotes

All the blood is drained out of democracy - it dies - when only half the population votes.

Not voting is not a protest. It is a surrender.

A lot of times, elections are lost, and the hope of the public is lost because they don't turn out.

I don't vote. I don't do no voting.

I don't vote and I got nothing to do with it.

Getting people to vote is the only way to break this tragic coalition in Congress.

It's so deeply disturbing to me that half of the eligible voters don't vote in this country. We talk about how divided the country is. The truth is, we don't even know. We just know what the half that voted thought.

For too many years, those eligible to vote in primary or general elections did not bother to do so. Those sensible centrists who do not go to rallies but care deeply about our country effectively silenced their own voices. That sent the message to incumbents that they were either doing the right thing or that we just did not care.

I have never voted in my life.

I've got friends who didn't vote. I want to smack them upside the head.

It is the duty of governments to create a pro-voter environment that encourages participation, but it is also the responsibility of citizens to make their voices heard.

From the standpoint of democratic legitimacy, it's a problem if half the electorate, or close to it, declines to vote, not least because they may not feel much of a stake in the whole process.

I'm baffled by the people who say, 'I'm just not going to vote.'

Turnout is good for the system.

If we don't register and don't vote, national leaders will not be aware of our point of view.

Nobody will ever deprive the American people of the right to vote except the American people themselves and the only way they could do this is by not voting.

So few people vote these days, and I think it's partly because they don't feel like the institution really means anything to them. If you want them to vote, give them opportunities to do something else other than vote, to help.

Bad politicians are sent to Washington by good people who don't vote.

The more that voting is glorified as a panacea, the more lackadaisical people become about preserving their constitutional rights.

I'm a very bad citizen. I've never even voted.

Pretty much all I say politically is I encourage people to register to vote.

I don't follow politics; it doesn't interest me. So why should I vote?

I can't vote again ever, so political party is not a relevant thing for me.

We should make election day a national holiday.

Elections are always about turnout.