*This editorial originally was printed in the Tuesday March 8 edition of The Daily Eastern News

Have you been keeping up with past editorials, columns and letters encouraging you to vote?

If you haven’t, are you at least aware of what is occurring Tuesday, March 15?

Regardless of the news outlet you check to keep up with what’s going on, hopefully you know by now the Illinois Primary is Tuesday March 15.

All the research you have been doing, hopefully, for the past few months on candidates has led you to a candidate you support from either the Republican or Democratic Party.

It is now time to apply everything you have learned and to show true support for a candidate.

The only way you can show true support for a candidate is to go out March 15 and exercise your right to vote, and with the way things are going, it could go either way for both parties.

Your vote could make all the difference.

The primary will also allow you to vote for state and federal candidates for both the house and senate.

Students are probably wondering how they could vote if they are not registered to vote in Cole County.

Well, lucky for all the students, the primary date is actually occurring during the Tuesday of spring break.

This means you get to wake up bright and early, drive to your nearest polling location, and vote for the candidates you think would best represent the political party of your choosing.

Most people know the importance of voting, but the age group that tends to suffer the most is college-aged students, specifically ages 18 to 24.

According to USA Today from Sept. 2015, this age group has been consistent with the lowest voter turnout since 1962.

A U.S. Census on voting from 2012 indicated that the highest turnout rate for this age group was 50.9 percent in 1964, and this number has gradually gone down.

The 2012 Presidential Election saw 38 percent voter turnout, and the next lowest age group was 25 to 44 with a 49.5 percent voter turnout.

Young adults probably think their vote doesn’t matter, so they choose not to follow what is going on in politics.

The idea that a vote doesn’t matter is absurd because every vote does matter. If more college-aged students realized how important it is to vote, they could probably choose candidates they would like to lead, and this goes for federal, state and local elections.

Voting is something too many college-aged students take for granted. If you have not been old enough to vote before, you should be getting out there March 15 to place your vote.

If you are registered to vote in Coles County, then you are in luck because early voting starts this week.

Early voting for Coles County will be occurring from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. March 9-11 in the Bridge Lounge of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union.

Every vote matters. No matter what county you are in, just remember to get out there and exercise your right to vote.

The daily editorial is the majority opinion of the editorial board of The Daily Eastern News