Looking for the perfect voting quote or “I voted!” quote for your Instagram caption? Just check out the wise words of celebrities, writers and politicians for election quotes. These 50 quotes about voting will definitely get you in the #VotingMood.
50 Voting Quotes
- “You wouldn’t let your grandparents pick your playlist. Why would you let them pick your representative who’s going to determine your future?” Barack Obama, Former U.S. President
- “This process of election affords a moral certainty that the office of President will seldom fall to the lot of any man who is not in an eminent degree endowed with the requisite qualifications.” Alexander Hamilton, American Politician and Founding Father of the U.S. 3. “We can all agree on the importance of voting.” Jenna Bush, American News Personality
- “Democracy is based upon the conviction there are extraordinary possibilities in ordinary people.” Harry Emerson Fosdick, American Pastor
- “Bad officials are elected by good citizens who don’t vote.” George Jean Nathan, American Drama Critic and Magazine Editor
- “The most important office, and the one which all of us can and should fill, is that of private citizen.” Louis Brandeis, American Lawyer and Associate Justice of the Supreme Court
- “I am most concerned about the wealthy owning our democracy. [It] feels as if very real efforts to disable our democracy are underway. Between the way our rights as voters are being attacked, the way elections themselves are being gerrymandered… I really think that if we don’t show up in this moment, we will [have] missed potentially our last opportunity to really check this administration.” America Ferrera, Actress and Political Activist
- “The ballot is stronger than the bullet.” Abraham Lincoln, Former U.S. President
- “We are not helpless. The fire is still burning. Please go out and vote this November. Too many people have died and sacrificed so much for us to have our voice, we have to use it. Get in formation. Use our voices to do something great for our children.” Beyoncé, American Singer
- “Our political leaders will know our priorities only if we tell them, again and again, and if those priorities begin to show up in the polls.” Peggy Noonan, American Author
- “Here’s the problem: while some folks are frustrated and tuned out and staying home on election day, trust me other folks are showing up. Democracy continues with or without you.” Michelle Obama, Former First Lady
- “The consequences of anybody here, not turning out and doing everything you can to get your friends, neighbors, family to turn out, the consequences of you staying home would be profoundly dangerous to this country, to our democracy.” Barack Obama, Former U.S. President
- “A man without a vote is a man without protection.” Lyndon B. Johnson, Former U.S. President
- “Can’t wait for tomorrow when I get to exercise my patriotic duty as an American: Complaining about how long it’s taking to vote.” Stephen Colbert, American Comedian
- “It isn’t about who is the majority in Congress. It’s about, are people educated and enfranchised and resourced enough to participate in the government that purports to be of the people, by the people, for the people? We’re missing the people part—and not because people don’t care, but because we’re not doing our job as a country, as a culture, to make democracy work.” America Ferrera, Actress and Political Activist
- “The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all.” John F. Kennedy, Former U.S. President
- “Voting is not only our right—it is our power.” Loung Ung, Human Rights Activist
- “If you don’t vote, you lose the right to complain.” George Carlin, American Comedian
- “We do not have government by the majority. We have government by the majority who participate.” Thomas Jefferson, Former U.S. President and Founding Father of the U.S.
- “Voting is the expression of our commitment to ourselves, one another, this country, and this world.” Sharon Salzberg, American Author
- “Real change, enduring change, happens one step at a time.” Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court
- “Wouldn’t you want to be absolutely positive that the folks elected to make those decisions about our daily lives, decisions that range from when we send our troops to war to how victims of sexual assault are treated. Wouldn’t you want to be sure that those elected officials were thinking about all of us, not just some small percentage of us?” Michelle Obama, Former First Lady
- “Talk is cheap, voting is free; take it to the polls.” Nanette L. Avery, Writer
- “People shouldn’t be afraid of their government. Governments should be afraid of their people.” Alan Moore, American Writer
- “So the notion somehow that, ‘Well, you know, I’m not as inspired because Barack and Michelle, they’re not on the ballot this time, and, you know, maybe we kinda take it easy’—my legacy’s on the ballot. You know, all the work we’ve done over the last eight years is on the ballot.” Barack Obama, Former U.S. President
- “I love voting day. I love the sight of my fellow citizens lining up to make their voices heard.” Beth Broderick, American Actress
- “Fear is always with us, but we just don’t have time for it. Not now.” Hillary Clinton, Former U.S. Secretary of State
- “I don’t care what responsibilities you have today, there’s no greater responsibility than being in control of your future and your future starts now! We don’t have time, no procrastinating, don’t let the discouragement take you off course, that’s not how my people or my generation will go down…this is the loudest way to make your voice heard!” Rihanna, Singer
- “By voting, we add our voice to the chorus that forms opinions and the basis for actions.” Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary General of NATO
- “Voting is the only way to ensure that your concerns matter. Period.” Michelle Obama, Former First Lady
- “People ask me sometimes… ‘When will there be enough women on the court?’ And my answer is: ‘When there are nine.’” Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court
- “If we don’t vote, we are ignoring history and giving away the future.” Pat Michell, American Businesswoman
- “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.” Franklin D. Roosevelt, Former U.S. President
- “Elections belong to the people.” Abraham Lincoln, Former U.S. President
- “I’m hopeful that despite all the noise, all the lies, we’re going to remember who we are, who we’re called to be. Out of this political darkness, I see a great awakening. If you vote, things will get better, it will be a start.” Barack Obama, Former U.S. President
- “Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn’t mean politics won’t take an interest in you.” Perecles, Greek Statesman
- “Voting is the only Constitutional right that we have to register for, that we have to sign up for. [You] don’t have to register to exercise your right to free speech, or register to exercise your right to free assembly, [but] voting, for so many people there are a ton of obstacles in the way. [There have been] last-minute, blatant attempts to suppress votes—and mostly people of color—and this is not new to our history… It’s an illness, and our democracy cannot survive this way.” America Ferrera, Actress and Political Activist
- “One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.” Plato, Greek Philosopher
- “Voting is as much an emotional act as it is an intellectual one.” Monica Crowley, Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs for the U.S. Department of the Treasury
- “You can’t vote some of the time and then sit out. You know we saw that happen, we experienced that where we had a great president.” Michelle Obama, Former First Lady
- “I’m dejected, but only momentarily, when I can’t get the fifth vote for something I think is very important. But then you go on to the next challenge and you give it your all.” Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court
- “There are real reasons why people are disenfranchised. I think the easiest and most beneficial [thing] to a lot of people in power to believe is that, “Oh, people are lazy and they don’t care, and they’re complacent.” But there are all kinds of genuine obstacles that have been intentionally placed to keep people from participating in democracy and mattering in democracy. Sure, when you look at your life and you feel like nothing about our government or the way the system is working is positively impacting your life, of course you’re going to feel disenchanted and cynical about those institutions. That’s only natural and human.” America Ferrera, Actress and Political Activist
- “The worst thing that can happen in a democracy–as well as in an individual’s life–is to become cynical about the future and lose hope: that is the end, and we cannot let that happen.” Hillary Clinton, Former U.S. Secretary of State
- “The future of this republic is in the hands of the American voter.” Dwight D. Eisenhower, Former U.S. President
- “When there’s a vacuum in our democracy, when we don’t vote, when we take our basic rights and freedoms for granted, when we turn away and stop paying attention and stop engaging and stop believing and look for the newest diversion, the electronic versions of bread and circuses, then other voices fill the void. A politics of fear and resentment and retrenchment takes hold. And demagogues promise simple fixes to complex problems.” Barack Obama, Former U.S. President
- “Democracy is about voting and it’s about a majority vote. And it’s time that we started exercising the Democratic process.” Debbie Stabenow, United States Senator
- “Voting is a civic sacrament.” Theodore Hesburgh, American Preist
- “So when you don’t vote, what you’re really doing is letting someone else take power over your own life.” Michelle Obama, Former First Lady
- “We should not be held back from pursuing our full talents, from contributing what we could contribute to the society, because we fit into a certain mold, because we belong to a group that historically has been the object of discrimination.” Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court
- “Don’t boo—vote.” Barack Obama, Former U.S. President Next up, What is Civic Engagement?
