When we ponder enduring images of people exercising their right to vote we tend to think of the long, snaking lines of black men and women voting in South Africa's first free elections. Or we think of thumbs dyed purple to mark Afghanistan's first democratic election.

Why is it that when we think about voting we tend to think of people in faraway places? Why aren't we thinking about the last time we voted? Or could it be that we tend to take the right to vote for granted?

We shouldn't. Other nations yearn for America's personal liberties, free enterprise and legal protections. These freedoms were not an accident. They were achieved by men and women who have helped shape their government through their participation in public processes such as voting and exercising their freedoms of speech, assembly, petition, not to mention religious liberties. Meanwhile, the politically inclined have participated in campaigns or have run for office.

So where do you fit in? Are you planning to vote in today's primary election? Our hope is that you'll do your civic duty and cast a ballot in your respective city.

The Salt Lake City mayoral race is wide open after two-term Mayor Rocky Anderson decided not to seek a third term in office. It's a nine-person runoff, with the top two vote-getters advancing to the Nov. 6 general election. For good or for bad, the mayor of Utah's capital city has some effect on all Utahns. Salt Lake City residents should take this responsibility seriously.

Here's another reason to vote. The election falls on a sad anniversary for our nation — the attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and the crash of another hijacked commercial jet in Pennsylvania, believed to be en route to Washington, D.C.

Vote to honor the estimated 2,700-plus Americans killed as a result of terrorist acts on Sept. 11, 2001. Could there be a better demonstration of a nation's strength than exercising one's right to vote? We'll look for you at the polls.