Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms helped the Democratic Party pay respects to civil rights icon and former U.S. Representative John Lewis during the final night of their virtual convention.
“We have gathered in our streets to demand change. And now, we must pass on the gift John Lewis sacrificed to give us. We must register and we must vote, “
Voting, whether by mail or in-person, has been one of the most important themes of this year’s Democratic National Convention. After Bottoms’s speech, a montage of clips commemorating Lewis’s life continued to play.
“People often think that they can’t make a difference like our civil rights icons,” Bottoms said. “But every person in the movement mattered—those who made the sandwiches, swept the church floors, stuffed the envelopes. They too changed America, and so can we. The baton has now been passed to each of us. We’ve cried out for justice. We have gathered in our streets to demand change, and now we must pass on the gift John Lewis sacrificed to give us: We must register, and we must vote.”
The deadline to register to vote is Monday, October 5, 2020. Individuals can register to vote online, in person or by mail. Friday, October 30, 2020, is the last day to request a mail-in (absentee) ballot. Tuesday, November 3, 2020, is Election Day in the United States. All mail-in (absentee ballots) must be received by the County Board of Elections on that day. Late mail-in ballots will be invalid.
“Congressman Lewis would not be silenced, and neither can we. We cannot wait for some other time, some other place, some other heroes. We must be the heroes of our generation, because we, too, are America.”
