Whether it’s Alexa Siri or some other device. Ai backed voice assistants are everywhere. I personally avoid them, but many people rely on them for everything from restaurant recommendations to basic factual Intel. But relying on a voice assistant for advice on presidential candidates. Now that is going too far. When I learned that the right was up in arms because Amazon’s Alexa favored Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris over Donald Trump, my first question was, why? Why would anyone ask Alexa who to vote for? That is the most disturbing aspect of this situation. I am not bothered that a commercially sold AI voice assistant rattles off positive facts about one candidate all while claiming not to have any intel or be able to speak on the other candidate. I don’t expect a conglomerate like Amazon to be wholly invested in protecting my right to vote and ensuring that I get it right. No, no, I am disgusted by the fact that members of our society are looking to AI to tell them who to elect as our next leader. That is beyond terrifying. It’s also further evidence that too many Americans are still not taking the right to vote seriously. The right to vote has been an exclusive right for much of our nation’s history, only what white male landowners could vote from the late 1700s until around the early 1970s really. It wasn’t until the early to mid 1900s that non white, non males could vote, and it wasn’t until the late 1960s early 70s, that meaningful steps were taken to actually curtail voter suppression, like the Voting Rights Act and ratification of the 26th amendment. So really said another way, the majority of this country, people like them, haven’t been able to vote for the majority of this country’s existence. Yet, even with this coveted right that we hold today, so many Americans still avoid the polls. In 2020 only about 63% of Americans of voting age showed up to decide between Donald Trump and Joe Biden. Sure that was a huge turnout from the previous presidential election, where just 52% of voting age citizens went to the polls. Still, the United States doesn’t get a pat on the back for that type of voter turnout, because the rates should be far higher. The US trails much of the developed world when it comes to voter turnout. In fact, in the 2020 presidential election, the US ranked 31st in voter turnout among 50 democratic nations, our citizens simply do not value the vote, and it’s ridiculous. The right to vote is incredibly precious. Otherwise, those in positions of power wouldn’t have fought us for nearly 200 some odd years to withhold voting rights. They wouldn’t still be fighting us today with racial gerrymandering, felon disenfranchisement, poll taxes, voter ID restrictions and so on. We, the people, must wake up and take up our power. We must register and use our vote take it seriously. That means know who the candidates are, what they stand for and what they’re proposing to do. People must stop relying on blue or red RRD for direction. They damn sure shouldn’t be asking Alexa, and yes, I get it. The Electoral College effectively makes it such that some 80% of our individual votes kind of don’t matter. But at the same time, I also know that fascism effectively eliminates the right to vote in total, and a homegrown dictator is eyeing a second term right now. If Americans learned anything from the presidential election since 2020 it should be that despite the Electoral College, every vote does count, and who vote matters and who we elect matters. It’s the difference between having a say over our own bodies and having to grapple with another innocent country getting invaded. Voting is the most basic right of each citizen. Casting your ballot to determine who leads us is pivotal. No matter your leanings. You got to take it seriously when it comes to elections, Americans cannot be on autopilot and Alexa cannot be in the driver’s seat. I.