National Voter Registration Day, 2015

Vol. 80

Thursday,

No. 185

September 24, 2015

Part III

The President

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Proclamation 9327--National Voter Registration Day, 2015

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Title 3--
The President

Proclamation 9327 of September 21, 2015

National Voter Registration Day, 2015

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

The right to vote is a cornerstone of what it means to
be a free people: It represents the bedrock tenets of
equality and civic participation upon which our Nation
was founded. Throughout American history, courageous
patriots of every background and creed have fought to
extend this right to all and to bring our country
closer to its highest ideals. Voting is vital to a
principle at the core of our democracy--that men and
women of free will have the capacity to shape their own
destinies. On National Voter Registration Day, we
recommit to upholding this belief by encouraging all
eligible Americans to register to vote and exercise
this essential right.

The task of perfecting our Union lies with our
citizens, and my Administration is dedicated to working
with people across our country to empower Americans to
play an active part in forging the future we all share.
In that spirit, in 2013 I launched a nonpartisan
commission aimed at fulfilling this task, which issued
commonsense suggestions aimed at improving the voting
experience. But government alone can only do so much.
As a Nation, we must commit ourselves to fulfilling the
critical responsibility of participating in our
society.

It is up to each individual citizen to exercise the
right that so many struggled to obtain and protect--and
when we choose not to do so, we dishonor those who laid
down their lives for it. Our Nation has one of the
lowest voting rates among free societies, and Americans
disenfranchise themselves by disengaging from our
political process too often. Our country is only as
strong as the leaders we elect, and the task of
democracy is not theirs alone--it is up to all our
people to build the kind of world we want our children
to inherit.

Today, we reaffirm our enduring belief in the
democratic process and set out to fulfill the most
sacred and significant duty we have as Americans: to
make our voices heard. On National Voter Registration
Day, let us pay tribute to our legacy of liberty and
self-government by registering to vote and encouraging
those around us to join in the work of bettering our
communities. Each of us can exercise the franchise that
defines who we are as a Nation and upholds our belief
in a government that reflects our determined will, our
highest hopes, and our utmost aspirations.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the
United States of America, by virtue of the authority
vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the
United States, do hereby proclaim September 22, 2015,
as National Voter Registration Day. I call upon all
Americans to observe this day by registering to vote.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
twenty-first day of September, in the year of our Lord
two thousand fifteen, and of the Independence of the
United States of America the two hundred and fortieth.