This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Despite pleas by Mormon leaders to vote, flag-waving Mormon Utah has one of the lowest voter turnouts in the nation. It's damn embarrassing. It's also perilous.
This election, let's at least get Utah to the national average. Vote!
If you think you're patriotic, if you think you love America, but you don't vote, think again.
If you proudly stand with your hand over your heart when "The Star Spangled Banner" is sung at sporting events, but you don't take a half-hour to vote, what kind of American are you?
Young men gave their future lives on great battlefields so that those broad stripes and bright stars could long wave o'er the land of the free, so that the nation might live. If you won't breathe life into it by voting, you disgrace their sacrifice.
Utahns are on the verge of putting "In God We Trust" on their license plates, but even monarchies trust in God. A democracy's trust is in "we the people." If we don't vote, this government of the people, by the people, for the people cannot long endure.
If you don't want a nation ruled by the few, vote!
Charles Peyton
Salt Lake City