Maryland Gov. Wes Moore hosted a livestream conversation with Janai Nelson, president of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, sharing an urgent call to action for young voters: protect your right to vote and ensure your voices are heard.
With Election Day looming, Moore and Nelson emphasized voting as a way to shape the future. During the 20-minute Instagram conversation, Moore and Nelson appealed to voters who may be disillusioned or apathetic.
“I’m telling you, when we go out there and do what we got to do, you are going to make sure that your future can actually be preserved,” said Moore during the event Wednesday, “because you are not asking someone to define it for you. You’re really working to define it yourself.”
Nelson challenged viewers to consider the lasting impact of their civic involvement.
”There’s so much more that we can do to make sure that our voices stay heard, and that we hold people to account,” said Nelson. “But it starts with voting. It absolutely starts with voting.”
Moore argued that this election will have a bearing on issues like education, economic equity, and justice reform.
“Everything in your life is a political decision, and everything in your life is an electoral decision,” Moore said. “Go ask folks who are in places where we have seen contamination take place because of a policy decision. The transportation assets you have or don’t have is a policy decision. The schools you are attending or your children are attending, that is a policy decision. The way you are policed. That is a policy decision.
“Everything’s a policy decision for people,” Moore said in closing. “Everything about your life has been predetermined with policy decisions.”