Your vote is your voice

 "The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all" 

John F. Kennedy

Why Should I Vote?

Vote for your interests, values, and morals, those of your family, your friends, your neighbors, and coworkers. Vote with empathy, curiosity, understanding, and reverence. A question to ask yourself or others considering not voting; "Do you often consent to strangers making decisions about your life or making rules and changes to the things and people you love?" Think about those streets you drive on littered with potholes, missing sidewalks and streetlights, and the plows that clear the snow. All of these things are funded and taken care of by local and state governments. If you as a constituent want things to be done more efficiently or in general, you have to make them hear you. Make the people voted into power listen to what you want and need. Not voting is allowing whoever has the most name recognition, political capital, and money to win elections without having to actually speak to you and deliver results for your vote. Every vote matters.

 "My vote is my voice... and the voice of all who struggled, so that I may have my voice" 

Lydia Obasi

Does My Vote Matter?

Of course it does, your government on every level is constantly making determinations and decisions that will affect you or those around you in the now and in the future. There's a misconception that the government is a trickle-down system when in fact it's a trickle-up system, starting locally moving up to states and then federally. Some candidates only win by hundreds of votes. It is your right to vote, something that has been fought for and protected by service members. If you're a parent, child, student, worker, business owner, member of a minority or marginalized group, or know someone who fits that characterization. VOTE!

 "It doesn't matter how strong your opinions are. If you don't use your power for positive change, you are indeed part of the problem" 

Coretta Scott King

 "Voting is the foundation stone of political action" 

Martin Luther King

Sources

These sources are reliable, reporting the facts and bringing transparency to the conversation of all things politics. VOTE!