Guess what day it is. If you guessed Nov. 6th, the first Tuesday of November, you’d be right.

But it’s also Election Day. Anyone who is 18 or older has the chance to vote in local elections today (if they didn’t already during the early voting period) and let their voice be heard.

“But I don’t really care about politics.” “My vote doesn’t matter.” “Why should I vote?” “Voting is too much of a hassle.”

Vote anyway. If you don’t pay much attention to politics, you should still go vote.

There are a lot of places online available for you to quickly read a run-down of each candidate’s platform so you can decide who you side with.

If you think your vote doesn’t matter, you are incredibly wrong. Your vote definitely matters. Everyone’s vote matters. If you are eligible to vote, you should absolutely do it so that your voice can be heard.

There has been a massive increase in voter turnout, and many states have had their registration numbers for these midterms raise by over 100%! This just goes to show that people are starting to see that voting is very important. People want their voice to be heard, and they want to play a part in the election of our representatives.

For those of you who don’t really care about politics, you should. I used to not pay very much attention because I thought it didn’t affect me.

Once I came to college, I started to pay more attention and realize that elections are actually very important. So many things are decided during elections other than representatives. For example, on this midterm election ballot, there is a question that asks if you would support Illinois passing legislation to protect the 2nd amendment. If you go vote tomorrow, you get to tell them what you think.

I wasn’t able to vote in the 2016 presidential election because I wasn’t 18 yet, but I’ve voted in every election since then.

I always hear people complaining about elections and how they are unhappy with the people elected. It only bothers me when I find out that these people didn’t vote.

How can you complain if you didn’t even vote? If you’re upset about the way things are being done, go vote for a change. Let your voice be heard.

A lot of people think it’s difficult to vote, but it really isn’t. If you are not registered in Coles County, you can go to the courthouse on the square to register and vote while you’re there.

If you’re already registered, you can go to the Bridge Lounge in the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union with your voter card and vote there.

Happy voting, everyone.

Jessica Stewart is a sophomore English education major. She can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].