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Every vote counts | Scene Through the Lens

The first amendment and our right to vote.

November 7, 2022: A marble tablet, engraved with the 45 words of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, spans a 100-foot-wide wall on the second floor of the National Constitution Center.
November 7, 2022: A marble tablet, engraved with the 45 words of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, spans a 100-foot-wide wall on the second floor of the National Constitution Center.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

That 50-ton marble installed earlier this year at the Constitution Center was previously displayed on the four-story-high façade of the Newseum in Washington, D.C.

The interactive museum, on Pennsylvania Avenue, operated from 2008 to 2019 and was dedicated to promoting free expression and the importance of news and journalism. while tracing the evolution of communication. (It also included a Pulitzer Prize photo gallery, which featured photographs and many recorded video interviews with the photographers, from every Pulitzer Prize–winning entry dating back to 1942.)

The First Amendment protects many activities surrounding voting, but the framers stopped short of including direct voter protection in the Constitution. However, five subsequent amendments - enshrined that right.

This week’s photos - my “weekly visual exploration of the Philadelphia region” - are a subtle reminder that voting is essential to a well-functioning democracy.

The saying is overused but, “Every vote counts.”

If you haven’t already, make sure you cast your ballot, and check here next week for pictures of tomorrow’s mid-term election.

Since 1998, a black-and-white photo has appeared every Monday in staff photographer Tom Gralish’s “Scene Through the Lens” photo column in The Inquirer’s local news section. Here are the most recent, in color:

» SEE MORE: Archived columns and Twenty years of a photo column