To vote is to make an official choice in an election or decision, usually by marking a ballot; a vote is that choice itself.
From Latin “votum,” meaning “a vow, wish, or promise,” from “vovere,” meaning “to vow.” The idea shifted from a sacred wish to a formal expression of choice in politics and groups.
A single vote feels tiny, but whole governments and laws are built out of millions of these tiny choices. In some elections, a handful of votes—or even a tie broken by a coin flip—has decided who leads thousands of people.
Voting rights have historically excluded women and many other groups; women in numerous countries gained suffrage only after long political struggles in the 19th and 20th centuries. The language of 'the vote' is tightly linked to these movements for gender and civil equality.
Use 'vote' with awareness of this history, and avoid metaphors that trivialize hard-won suffrage (e.g., 'vote on which woman is prettiest').
["choose","select","decide","poll"]
Acknowledge the work of suffragists and activists—many of them women of color—who organized, wrote, and risked their safety to secure voting rights.
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