Vote!
“Someone struggled for your right to vote. Use it.”
— Susan B. Anthony
Sven Torfinn. People wait in line to cast their votes. 2011. On 9th January 2011 Southern Sudan’s people began voting in a referendum on whether to become independent from the North, part of a peace agreement which was signed in 2005. Image and data from Panos Pictures. © Sven Torfinn / Panos Pictures.
As the United States holds its 2020 presidential elections, we rounded up a selection of images that reflect the importance of voting–throughout history and around the world. We encourage you to cast a vote and make your voice heard.
Voting in the US
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- Ben Shahn. For Full Employment After the War, Register, Vote. 1944. Graphic design. Data from The Museum of Modern Art. Art © Estate of Ben Shahn / Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY.
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- Ottenheimer, I. and M. (Baltimore, Md.). Women and children performing suffrage tableau in front of the United States Treasury. 1913 Mar 03. Photograph, gelatin silver prints. Image from Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University.
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- Shahn, Ben, 1898-1969. We want peace – register, vote. 1946. Poster. Register, vote. Data from University of Georgia Libraries. Art © Estate of Ben Shahn / Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY.
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- Chamberlain, Kenneth Russell. Let them vote what wants to! Between 1920 and 1940. Image and original data from: Virga, Vincent, and Curators of the Library of Congress, with commentary by Alan Brinkley (2004).
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- Lawrence, Jacob. The Migration of the Negro Panel no. 59. 1940 – 1941. Casein tempera on hardboard. Image and original data provided by The Phillips Collection. © 2005 Estate of Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence / Artists Rights Society (ARS).
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- Jacob A. (Jacob August) Riis (1849-1914). The Board of Election Inspectors in the Beach Street School. ca. 1890. Portrait of three girls who served as inspectors in the first Board of Election at the Beach Street Industrial School. Image from Museum of the City of New York.
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- Charles Maurand. Rejoicing in New York on the occasion of the election of President Lincoln–the cortege arrives at Union Square. After 1860. Wood engraving. Image and original data provided by Reunion des Musees Nationaux / Art Resource, N.Y.
Voting around the world
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- Jeroen Oerlemans. Women queue to cast their vote at a polling station that is exclusively for women, in the small village of Jabal-o Saraj. 2004. Amid accusations of serious flaws in the democratic process, Afghanistan held its first ever presidential election on the 9th October 2004. Image and data from Panos Pictures. © Jeroen Oerlemans / Panos Pictures.
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- Ch. Chusseau-Flaviens (French). Angleterre Suffragette. ca. 1900-1919. Negative, gelatin on glass. Image from George Eastman House.
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- Jeroen Oerlemans. Officials counting votes. 2004. Amid accusations of serious flaws in the democratic process, Afghanistan held its first ever presidential election on the 9th October 2004. Image and data from Panos Pictures. © Jeroen Oerlemans / Panos Pictures.
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- John Vink. CAMBODIA. Phnom Penh (Phnom Penh). 2008. 27/07/2008: Vote counting for National Assembly elections. Image and original data provided by Magnum Photos. http://www.magnumphotos.com/. © John Vink / Magnum Photos.
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- Jeroen Oerlemans. Voters show their thumbs, which earlier that day had been dipped in a supposedly indelible ink to indicate that they had voted. 2004. It turned out to wash off easily, allowing some of these people to vote several times. Some showed two or more false registration cards. Amid accusations of serious flaws in the democratic process, Afghanistan held its first ever presidential election on the 9th October 2004. Image and data from Panos Pictures. © Jeroen Oerlemans / Panos Pictures.
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- Thomas Rowlandson, 1756-1827, British. A Tub Thumper. An Election Speech. Between 1817 and 1920. Drawing and Watercolor. Image and data from Yale Center for British Art.