Newspaper readers tend to be voters, but we nevertheless urge eligible citizens to get out and vote today.

In fact, we urge them to urge their friends and family to vote, too.

There is just one item on the ballot for Austin residents — a referendum for Austin Public Schools to renew through 2023 a $1 million operating levy.

Without much on the ballot — no mudslinging commercials on the idiot box — we fear too few will get out to the polls today. For or against operating levies, it’s your civic duty to cast a ballot and participate in democracy.

Americans have fought and died defending the right to vote going all the way back to the Revolutionary War, when taxation without representation was the central issue. They have fought and died protecting the country from powers foreign and domestic that could have limited who gets to vote or even voting altogether, ranging from the Civil War to World War II to the Cold War and, of course, the modern-day War on Terror.

So vote today. Cherish it. Be proud to be an American when you do.