David Baxter Every year in November, people ask themselves the question, Should I vote?

My one vote wont make a difference. Voting is not only a civil right, but a civil responsibility. The Tuesday after the first Monday in November is a very crucial day for each American. It is the day we set aside to elect figures into public offices. We see in the media clips of people flocking to the polls, but do we ever give ourselves to be seen there as well? As an of-voting-age American, I feel it my duty to vote for the candidate I believe will do the most good in the office for which they are running. I find it very exciting to have the opportunity to vote. Voting gives me a sense of power, however little power it may be, power to change my town, state, and even country. When talking to my peers, I sometimes hear someone make the comment that they dont vote because their one vote will not make a difference in the long run. I believe this statement to be very untrue. There are a plethora of instances where one single vote made a big difference! Do you like speaking English? In 1776, one vote decided Americas national language would be English over German. One vote changed France to a republic from a monarchy. Yes, the voting systems used then are completely different from our current Electoral College method of voting we have now, but the importance is just the same. In our nation, each state gets a set amount of electoral votes based on the population of the state. When Kentucky citizens vote, that information goes to the States Electoral College. Here they give our eight votes to one of the presidential candidates. This begs the question, If we have someone else giving our votes, why vote in the first place? In the 1916 presidential election, Charles E Hughes was running against Woodrow Wilson. If he were to have received one more vote in each of Californias voting districts, he would have overtaken Wilson and became President. Every voice is an important in the American dynamic, and we should not be afraid to let ours be heard. Voting is but one way to get our voice out there. Even if our one vote makes a difference in the big election, it lets the people we have elected to make the big decisions in DC know a little more about how we feel. So on November sixth, go vote! Be bold in your decisions and make a difference, no matter how small it may seem. Nobody will ever deprive the American people of the right to vote except the American people themselves and the only way they could do this is by not voting. -Franklin Delano Roosevelt,
32 President of the United States of America
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