.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/suffrage

"Did You Know?

Why would a 17th-century writer warn people that a chapel was only for "private or secret suffrages"? Because in addition to the meanings listed above, "suffrage" has been used since the 14th century to mean "prayer" (especially a prayer requesting divine help or intercession). So how did "suffrage" come to mean "a vote" or "the right to vote"? To answer that, we must look to the word’s Latin ancestor, suffragium, which can be translated as "vote," "support," or "prayer." That term produced descendants in a number of languages, and English picked up its senses of "suffrage" from two different places. We took the "prayer" sense from a Middle Frenchsuffragium offspring that emphasized the word’s spiritual aspects, and we elected to adopt the "voting" senses directly from the original Latin."  

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I VOTE

My vote, so precious, I give

To honor those who fought for my right

To voice my choice for society's path.

It's a symbol of hope, perhaps more of a wish,

Not just for my family, my country, but for all.

My vote, so precious, I give

With wavering faith,

Knowing the majority is not always right,

That politics is not a harmonious song

But a fight, (whose rules are not always just)

To win the power to direct

History's course, not for one, but for all.

My vote, so precious , I give

Aware of the system's imperfections,

As I transform that voting booth

Into a chapel, where my choice becomes

A prayer, not just for my family, my country
But for the good of all.

  

(For Poets United where Susan prompts us to write about suffrage.)