Voters are speaking their minds in huge numbers. Will nation’s political leaders listen?

At first you could barely hear it — a faint, far-off noise.

But as it grew steadily louder, there was no denying the sound. It got closer every week, and was soon accompanied by an urgency impossible to dismiss.

Today that distant whisper is a roar. A din that can’t be squelched.

It’s the sound of Americans voting, screaming out what’s on their minds.

It’s their chance to say, “This is what I want! My silence is no longer an option!”

Voting is nothing new. Americans have done it since day one.

The process originally came with a blanket chest-full of restrictions; voters had to be white, male and landowners.

Fortunately, parameters have been broadened through hard-fought measures. Now voting is a right extended to every U.S. citizen who is at least 18 years of age.

In this election, voters aren’t just casting their ballots. They’re hurling them into ballot boxes with a force unheard of in previous times.

While the percentage of eligible voters who vote for presidential candidates traditionally hovers between 40% and 60%, 2020 numbers are projected to set records.

According to data published in the New York Times, early voting numbers far exceed those set in 2016.

Weeks before Election Day, voters across the country have braved traffic, weather and the novel coronavirus to have their say-so.

So, the thunder that you’re hearing is a mix tape of people driving to ballot drop-off spots, walking to their polling places and standing in line for hours.

They’re doing everything they can to speak up and be counted. They’re individually storming their private Bastilles to tell the government what they think.

Why the urgency this time around?

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought us to our collective knees and T-boned the economy.

An uber-conservative justice has been cut-and-pasted onto the U.S. Supreme Court. Innocent Black Americans have been gunned down while strolling sidewalks or sleeping in their beds.

Massive wildfires have once again charred Western states and rendered air unfit to breathe.

White supremacy has gained a national footing that the sitting president refuses to denounce.

Clearly, there’s much to talk about. And Americans are clamoring — no, screaming — to be heard.

What’s ironic about the cacophony is that the voting process itself is nearly silent. Except for the barely audible sound of a ball-point pen darkening a small oval, a finger touching a computer screen or a mail-in ballot dropping through a slot, voting is as low decibel as it gets.

It’s the results that can be ear-splitting. Those will quickly be revealed.

Of course, there’s no instant way of knowing what Americans so urgently wanted to say. That has to wait until Tuesday, Election Day, when the final votes are submitted and the tallying process begins.

The answer might be crystal clear. Or it might unfold through long, tortuous weeks.

Either way, the citizens will have spoken. It’s time for our leaders to listen up.