I turned my absentee California ballot in last week. I’m lucky that California -- and my county in particular -- makes it easy to vote. There’s early voting available and if you don’t want to pay for postage, there are drop off locations all over the county. Mine was in my city hall. All I had to do was drop the sealed envelope into a red box and there were even ‘I voted’ stickers you could take.

I cast my vote for Senator Bernie Sanders. Not because I expect him to win the Democratic nomination -- at this point, the math is too much in Secretary Clinton’s favor -- but not because I hate her or think she stands for nothing. I voted for Senator Sanders because I believe he would be a good president and because I wanted to make a point.

I first met Senator Sanders in 2012. I was in Washington D.C. with the National Student Leadership Conference on their U.S. Politics and Policy program. I was 16 and a California liberal through and through. Already, I’d been exposed to the idea that the U.S. could do more for its citizens, that we could do more for each other. When Senator Sanders spoke to us, I agreed with what he said and I knew that when he said Democratic Socialism, he meant the social welfare states of western Europe, not the former Eastern Bloc. He was genuine and treated a room full of high schoolers like adults, taking questions and engaging in debate with those who disagreed with him.

When he announced his candidacy last year, I was conflicted. As a precocious seventh grader, I got into arguments with my English teacher because she supported Senator Obama and I preferred Senator Clinton. I want to see the first female president, I do, and I will support Hillary Clinton if things go the way they seem they will and she takes the Democratic nomination.

Yet the bubble I filled in was next to Senator Sanders’ name. I am a progressive. I believe that we have a responsibility to support those who are disadvantaged. I believe that everyone, regardless of birth deserves a shot at making something of themselves. I know that college education is essential to today’s job market and that it is far too expensive for many people. I am lucky that I will graduate from undergrad without debt but I am one of the few students in this day and age who can say that. I’ve watched several friends wonder if they could stay at school when their families began suffering financial hardship and I don't want others to have to go through that. As such, I think that Sanders' plan to end student debt is a necessary one and while I could list the other positions I agree with him on, there are too many to list here.

I will admit that there are areas that I disagree with him. His position on guns for example; I prefer the kind of strict gun control measures that Secretary Clinton has spoken of. Yet I refuse to be a one issue voter. There are more ares where I agree with Senator Sanders.

My decision was not a quick one, but it was the right one. I want the Democratic party to shift to the left, to commit itself to championing those who lack a voice because they don’t have millions of dollars to contribute to PACs or to pay for lobbyists. Voting for Senator Sanders and volunteering to canvass for his campaign is about showing my support for a changed Democratic party. It’s a way to make my voice heard: I support Sanders’ ideas and I want to see them adopted at the convention. I am pleased to hear that his people will have a strong presence on the platform committee. I am glad that the Senator has stayed in so long, because you can see the evidence in Secretary Clinton’s campaign. Senator Sanders pulled her to the left, and for the better.

I don't believe I'm going to hell for not supporting Secretary Clinton. I voted for many women down ballot, but that's not what feminism is about. Feminism is about equality and making sure that gender does not get in the way of that. Secretary Clinton will break a glass ceiling, sure, but will she be the champion of those who need it most, the way Senator Sanders has been consistently over the years?

America will succeed when the majority of its people succeed, not the simply the minority. Senator Sanders is the candidate who best represents that view. I hope he’ll succeed in California, and in other states as well, no matter what AP has declared. That way, he’ll have a strong position going into the convention, a position from which he can succeed at making the Democratic party a better one.

That’s why he has my vote.