One of the greatest constitutional rights given to us as American citizens is the right to vote. In President Ronald Reagan’s 1986 radio address to the nation, he said, “Voting is a precious right that for two centuries Americans have fought and died to protect. Let’s all honor that sacrifice this election day.” President Reagan’s words underscore the importance of exercising this right to preserve the democracy countless men and women in uniform fought to safeguard.

There is a crisis in our country today that all Americans should find alarming. That epidemic is people sitting on their couch on Election Day instead of showing up to the polls to exercise their right to vote. For example, in a recent special election in Texas, only 15% of registered voters turned out to cast a ballot – fewer than 95,000 out of more than 600,000 eligible voters. Unfortunately, this was not an isolated event. Abysmal voter turnout is happening in elections across the state. In some elections, turnout has been as low as 5.6% of registered voters. Every Texan should ask themselves: How we can expect fair elections when no one is getting out to vote?

When too many voters choose to sit on the sidelines, the consequence is unbalanced election results. Representatives are supposed to be chosen by the people, but if the majority of a constituency is not showing up to vote, the results cannot be truly representative of the community.

The truth is every election matters, from the federal level to the Statehouse to the courthouse. The decisions made by your elected representatives affect every aspect of your daily life – how much of your paycheck you get to take home, what your children are taught in school, and even your ability to live safely and securely. We are blessed to live in a Democratic Republic, where our government gains its powers from the people, but the process by which self-government works is through elections. If Americans do not turn out to vote, including in special and midterm elections, then we are essentially giving up our right to self-government.

This isn’t the only issue that undermines our country’s system of self-governance. Another problem plaguing our nation is voter fraud. When a ballot is cast by someone other than the person whose name is on the ballot, our system of representation is weakened. We’ve seen this repeatedly happen in instances with illegal aliens.

Illegal aliens are technically barred from registering to vote, but in many cases, people are not required to show proof of citizenship at the time of registration. You need identification to buy a car, buy a beer, open a bank account, and even cash a paycheck, but you are not required to provide proof of citizenship to vote in elections.

I have worked hard with my colleague, Senator Mike Lee (R-UT), to introduce the SAVE America Act, which would right this egregious wrong nationwide by requiring proof of citizenship at the time of registration, as well as photo identification at the time of voting as Texas has had for years. This legislation is a long overdue step toward strengthening the integrity of our elections.

Some would have you believe that the SAVE America Act isn’t about preserving the hard-fought right for all U.S. citizens – men and women, black and white, rich and poor – to vote.  Rather, they claim the bill is a sinister ploy to undermine, disenfranchise, and dilute the votes of minorities, the poor, or the less educated. Nothing could be further from the truth, and both liberal and conservative polls bear this out. A Pew Research Center poll from last year indicated that 83% of all voters support requiring a government-issued photo ID. Similarly, in a recent national poll, 75% of swing voters, 69% of Hispanics, 56% of Black voters, and even 46% of Democrats supported voter ID.

Voter turnout across our nation is far lower than it should be, and it is our job as Americans to exercise our right to choose who represents us. As we have seen in some recent state elections, low voter turnout resulted in a “bait and switch” with elected representatives being put into office who don’t reflect the true will of the people of their state and, sadly, some folks are just now realizing their mistake in not voting when they had the chance. I urge each and every one of my constituents in Texas and all Americans to realize the great privilege of self-government that we have in the United States. Turn out to vote in all of your elections— federal, state, and local —and have a say in making our country better.