For the past year, the political world has blown up with the names Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, and Bernie Sanders. We have learned so much about each of these candidates whether it be their past work with civil rights activists, what works they have accomplished through a multibillion dollar business, or their rise through the ranks to potentially hold the most powerful office in the free world. But what do we know about our local elected officials?

For most of us, we don’t even know their names or what districts they represent. We care so much about who runs our country from the head, and we rightfully should, but what about those that serve to make our home state better? We see their signs on street corners and billboards, we hear that they showed up to a town meeting with a button, we know that they are trying to make our homes better places, but how can they do that if we don’t give them the time of day?

2016 is a huge election year, not only for the president, but for U.S. Congress and state legislatures as well. This year every seat in the House of Representatives, 435 nationally and multiple more by state legislatures, are up for reelection. This means that the House could potentially be a whole new entity if the public decide it to be. In this year, many senate and state senate seats are up for reelection as well. If the upper house of legislators aren’t providing the public service the people beg them for, many of them can now be replaced.

We sometimes forget that the power of Congress is to make the laws we must keep to live safely. Congress is the being who makes the laws and the President is the one who signs them into action. If we don’t know who we are electing, how can we be sure our voices will be heard?

Voting for the President is surely one of the most important votes we can cast, but what about those who are trying so desperately to make our homes better places? We need to know everything about the new ruler of our nation, but we also have to consider the individual looking to better our small little county. Not only is that individual looking to better our homes; we have to remember it is their home as well. Our local officials can make the greatest changes for us in much quicker time. So why couldn’t we care less about who they are? This election year, vote for the next president, but also vote for the people who could transform our lives one little vote at a time.