United States citizens fought for voting rights for literally centuries, but some people who are eligible to vote don’t take advantage of that right.

I believe that there is an abysmal amount of people in overwhelming support of arrogant politicians. The world of politics is stressful, but if you believe change is necessary, it is important to go out and vote. Progress can happen with persistence and engagement.

Under the Articles of Confederation, voting rights were interpreted differently. Freed slaves and non-property-owning white men could vote in some states, and even women could vote in New Jersey.

When the Constitution was written, laws were adjusted to allow only white male property owners the right to vote. That was only 10 to 16 percent of the population.

As one might assume, the first group to gain access to voting rights were white men. In 1792, all white men gained the right to vote whether they were rich, poor, property-owning, or not.

In 1870, the 15th Amendment was passed, giving former slaves the right to vote. However, African Americans were kept from voting, as Mississippi adopted a literacy test in 1890 to keep them from voting. Thankfully, the Voting Rights Act now protects the rights of minority voters and eliminates voting barriers such as the literacy test.

It took a long time, but in 1920, the 19th Amendment passed giving women the right to vote. Crazy, right? Less than 100 years ago, women weren’t able to vote.

I know that not too many people are concerned about the midterms, but votes are more important than you know. These small, local elections matter.

These midterm elections tend to have extremely smaller turnouts, so your vote can make more of an impact than you would think.

Just please vote.

If you believe our government needs to be drastically changed, then vote.

If you believe we should keep things the way they are, then vote.

I’m not saying you should vote Republican. I’m not saying you should vote Democrat. No matter what you believe, if you are eligible to vote, you should do it.

There is the common misconception that voting doesn’t matter, which is a complete lie. Every vote matters. If your vote didn’t matter, then they wouldn’t try so hard throughout all of history to keep you from voting.

There is a 1 in 302,575,350 chance of winning the lottery, yet people buy tickets frivolously because they have hope that their ticket will be the 1 in 302,575,350.

The only way change will come is if we act for change, which includes voting. If you are not old enough to vote, encourage your friends and family members to vote.

People have fought so long and hard for our voting rights. It is important that we are appreciative of all of their determined work ethic and thank them by casting our ballot.

Whether you want to keep things the same or make a drastic change, be the hope that your one vote will make a difference.