OPINIONS: Make sure your vote counts on Nov. 5

by André Chassé
AARP Maine Volunteer State President

One of the core American freedoms is the right to cast a ballot on election day, whether you’re voting for your local school board or having your say on who will run our country for the next four years. With the clock ticking down toward one of the most crucial and contentious elections in our nation’s history, now is the time for Mainers to make sure they have the information they need to make their voices heard and their votes count.

It’s a fact: Voters aged 50-plus decide elections. In 2024, that means they’ll decide who controls Congress and the White House. This powerful voting bloc, made up of people like me, wants to know what solutions the candidates are proposing on key issues that impact them and their families. If elected, what will they do to support family caregivers and protect Social Security?

AARP is mobilizing America’s more than 48 million family caregivers, including 166,000 here in Maine to fight for commonsense solutions that will save them time and money while supporting their efforts to care for their loved ones. Family caregivers are the backbone of a broken long-term care system. They help with everything from buying groceries and managing medications to bathing and dressing – often putting their own finances and jobs at risk.  Family caregivers provide more than $600 billion in unpaid labor each year, saving taxpayers billions by keeping loved ones at home and out of costly nursing homes. Maine’s family caregivers contribute more than 155 million unpaid care hours each year, valued at approximately 2.9 billion.

Family caregivers make up one in five voters. Smart candidates know that reaching these crucial voters and supporting policies that help them are essential steps on the road to victory.

Voters age 50-plus are also focused on the future of Social Security. We’ve worked hard for years and paid in, and we expect to get the money we’ve earned. If Washington doesn’t take action in about 10 years to protect and save Social Security, it could be cut by 20 percent, an average of $4,000 a year. For many Mainers a cut like that would be devastating. Voters 50-plus like me want to know what the candidates are proposing to protect Social Security not only for us but for our children and grandchildren as well.

As the nation’s largest organization for older Americans, AARP provides trusted up-to-date information on where, when and how to vote. We don’t tell our members or anyone else who to vote for, but we are committed to making sure all voters have the information they need to make their voices heard.

AARP Maine’s voter guide is now available online at aarp.org/mainevotes. It contains what voters of all ages need to know to cast a ballot in the 2024 general election. Several voting regulations have changed since the last election. That’s why it is so very important to know the rules here in Maine and to make a plan for casting your vote.

The stakes are very high this and every single election year. Make sure your vote counts on November 5.

The views of the author of this column are not necessarily those of The Town Line newspaper, its staff and board of directors.