You may have noticed the shiny new red, white, and blue “Declare Yourself” button in the upper right hand corner of this page. If you click it, it will direct you to a delightful and helpful website that will aid you in registering to vote (if you are not registered already). Over the past few weeks (and over several spirited arguments) I have come to the disappointing realization that many of my peers do not vote. In fact, they are almost proud of this fact. Some just don’t care (which is heartbreaking, and further proof that our generation is the most apathetic one to date). Some are actually against the process. The justification? “My vote doesn’t count.” “It doesn’t matter if I vote, the system is way bigger than me.” There were also various conspiracy theories, and some claims of anarchist mentalities. I get that. The system is often disappointing and sometimes corrupt. And I can offer no guarantee that your vote WILL count. But if there is even a 5% chance, if there is even a .05% chance, that it will count, shouldn’t you vote anyway? Because you know people who oppose gay marriage and abortion and are super into killing innocent people in the Middle East definitely think their votes count. And it looks like so far, they have.

Vote.