Why do elections matter?
     Time after time, elections are held in order for communities to make important decisions. From city council to U.S. president, and local school budgets to national matters, elections decide outcomes that affect each one of us. Elections decide who runs our country, our states, and our cities, as well as how funds are allotted to various programs (including school budgets!). Elections also occur in your schools, and your student council helps make important decisions for your school .
     Voting is a way to make each citizen an equal. Each of us only has one vote, so regardless of class, gender, religion, or any other factor, we are all equals in the eyes of an election. Your votes also send messages to the world about what is important to you. Even if your candidate loses, a message is sent to the rest of the world that your candidate's ideas are important to someone. Elections decide our civil rights, what you learn in school, how clean the air you breathe is, what kind of health insurance your family has, what happens to our troops, immigration laws, and national security concerns. Knowing what happens in elections now will help to change elections in the future.(1) Elections are a way to get our voices heard. Elections create change. 

Why should you care?
     As students, you may not believe that elections affect you. This conclusion could not be further from the truth! People who are elected into public office make decisions that affect you everyday. For example, our communities vote on school matters, which affect the schools you attend. The individual elected as U.S. President influences decisions that affect the entire country, which, of course, also affect each and every one of us. If you don't get informed and involved when it comes to elections, who will?

How can you become informed?
     These days, it is pretty easy to get information about the issues that matter to you. The Internet, of course, is an invaluable resource when it comes to research. For example, you can use the Internet to find out who your local and state representatives are, as well as their contact information; to read the latest news headlines from around the world; to identify important organizations and federal agencies working on your issue(s); and to look up information about education, the environment, health care, poverty, elections, and other important issues. Some reliable news Web sites include CNN.com, Nytimes.com, and Reuters.com.
     Newspapers and magazines are also an excellent resource. In fact, many major newspapers and magazines have special online editions geared specifically towards young adults such as yourself (see our section called "Helpful Links" for links to some of those Web sites). These include The New York Times, National Geographic, and Sports Illustrated.
     Television can be a great place from which to get information as well. Morning and evening news programs on CBS, NBC, ABC, and PBS provide the latest news headlines. In addition, cable news channels such as CNN, MSNBC, and FOX News offer around-the-clock commentary and analysis of current events.
     Finally, don't forget you can use your teachers, family members, schoolmates, and neighbors as resources too! You might be surprised at how much they know about the issues you care about. They can probably answer a lot of your burning questions and would welcome that opportunity!

What can you do to make your needs and opinions heard?
     There are lots of things you can do to make a difference on the issues that matter to you. For instance, let's say you were really interested in improving the quality of the lunch offerings at your school. What could you do about it? Well, for starters, you could organize a petition calling for healthier and/or more varied lunch options at your school, and gather other students' signatures to lend support to your request (you could enlist the help of a teacher or parent with this). Then, you could submit your petition to the student council and/or to the school principal. Other things you could do to try to bring about a change on this issue include joining the student council yourself, writing letters to your local and state representatives (include a copy of your petition!), writing and submitting letters/articles to your hometown newspapers (again, your teachers and parents could be a big help with this), organizing fundraisers (if cost is an issue in bringing in the school lunch items you want), and starting a Web site that presents your case and through which you could possibly join forces with other students across the country and the world who are fighting to create a similar change in their schools. 
     For more ideas on what YOU can do, please visit http://takeyourkidstovote.org/youth/middle.htm.