Joanna Cheek

As Freedom House’s 2026 Freedom in the World reports that we’ve experienced a global decline in freedom once again, dropping for the twenty first year in a row, I will always cherish my right to vote, even when there’s a 99 percent probability that our riding is going a certain way, and my voting card falls out of my pocket on the ride there and I need to search the city to find it, and I’ve misplaced my ID (and yes, I have ADHD).