Tomorrow, men and women throughout the Hawaii islands will step into the intimate confines of the familiar red, white and blue curtained booth and take the critical first step toward selecting leaders who will hold significant sway over the affairs of our state in the coming months and years.

It’s not a duty anyone of voting age should take lightly. Flawed as it may be at times, America’s democracy is nevertheless a powerful example of egalitarian empowerment, particularly in nations where the concept of government by the people is mostly or entirely absent.

The embattled reality of democracy in such places around the world ought to remind us all of the fragility of representative government here in the United States and the never-ending need to protect it.

In recent years, for instance, voting rights for some communities have been under some of the strongest and most naked attacks they’ve faced since passage of that landmark of the U.S. civil rights movement, the Voting Rights Act, which was enacted 51 years ago last week.

Voter ID laws, restrictions on voter registration, closure of polling places and reduction or elimination of early voting have been part of systemic efforts to make it harder to vote, according to the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law.

Over the past six years, 41 states have introduced some form of legislation seeking to restrict voting rights,  20 states have actually enacted restrictive new laws, and 15 states this fall will face new voting restrictions for the presidential election.

More often than not, the intent behind those laws and administrative changes has been to disenfranchise minority voters. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, for instance, ruled recently against North Carolina’s voting law in a decision that included a blistering critique of the state’s General Assembly.

“Before enacting that law, the legislature requested data on the use, by race, of a number of voting practices. Upon receipt of the race data, the General Assembly enacted legislation that restricted voting and registration in five different ways, all of which disproportionately affected African Americans,” Judge Diana Gribbon Motz wrote as part of the unanimous opinion. “Although the new provisions target African Americans with almost surgical precision, they constitute inapt remedies for the problems assertedly justifying them and, in fact, impose cures for problems that did not exist.”

Over the past six years, 41 states have introduced some form of legislation seeking to restrict voting rights; 15 states will face new voting restrictions for the presidential election this fall.

In late July, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found similarly in a challenge to Texas’ new voter ID law, ruling that it violated the Voting Rights Act’s provisions banning racial discrimination in voting and elections.

While both those decisions represent clear victories for voters, the forces behind the overturned laws continue to work toward the same ends. In North Carolina, for instance, new efforts by elections boards to execute some of the same restrictions on a local scale are already causing controversy and mobilizing voting rights advocacy groups.

In the face of such pitched battles for the unfettered ability to cast a ballot, democracy’s most central dimension, Hawaii ought to be ashamed of its dismal turnout for its most recent big vote in 2014: 52.3 percent, the lowest percentage ever for a Hawaii general election, ever.

Here’s what that means in terms of representative democracy. In a state of 1.42 million souls, 369,703 determined for all of us who would lead our state as governor, who would represent us in Congress, who would serve in our Legislature and in key county and city positions.

As the saying goes, if that doesn’t outrage you, you’re not paying attention.

The supreme irony is that it has never been easier to vote in Hawaii. Voters can request a ballot to vote by mail, or even declare themselves permanent absentee voters and vote by mail every time. If they’d rather vote in person, they can do so early at locations throughout the islands.

But for those who enjoy the satisfying tradition of going to the polls on Election Day and engaging in one of the most fundamental, sacred and important obligations of American citizenship, tomorrow’s for you. (If you’re looking for more information, check out Civil Beat’s Hawaii Election Guide 2016.)

Saturday’s election and the overall turnout for this primary season in Hawaii will be illuminating in many ways. Will newly active voters energized by outsider candidacies in this year’s presidential race show up at the polls? And how will Honolulu voters express their feelings in mayoral and City Council races over the state of the city’s rail project or the pace of progress in areas like homelessness and affordable housing?

We’ll have at least partial answers to these and many other questions by late Saturday evening. You have a chance to help shape them, and if you haven’t already taken advantage of it, you’ll have 11 hours between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. tomorrow to let your voice be heard.

Don’t miss that precious opportunity. Get out and vote.