Let’s be honest here, there are three ages in your life that actually mean something. At 16, you get a car and the whole world is your oyster, because now you can drive! When you turn 21, you can finally drink a beer in public without being sneaky. But when you turn 18, you automatically have the legal ability to vote, and these days, no one cares.

Growing up, I thought that there was no way I wouldn’t vote in the first election possible. Even last year in my government class, I was surprised by how many Americans who can vote just choose not to. I thought for sure I wouldn’t be one of those people. I wanted my voice heard, but just last week, I missed my opportunity in the Kansas Democratic Caucuses.

Fun fact: I’m not even registered to vote. I would say a large majority of my friends aren’t either. It could be because this election seems so messed up already. Like, come on, the only person who has beaten Trump yet is Cruz, and that should scare people. And yes, I feel the Bern, but he won’t beat Hillary Clinton, so why even try?

The thing all of us young people need to realize here is that our voice matters in this election. The next four years may seem like a party for us right now, but the president we elect in 2016 will affect everyone, not just our parents.

This can’t be another election that we ignore. We can’t just listen to what our parents feed in one ear and out the other and base our vote off of that. We have more tools than ever to find information on candidates and vote for someone who can “Make America Great Again," but actually do it in a way that will change this country for the better.

I’m not saying this to try to persuade people to think one candidate is better than the other, or one party’s opinions are wrong compared to my party’s beliefs. I’m saying we need to vote.

Now let me throw some numbers in here, but don’t freak out. The “youth vote” in America is considered to be anyone ages 18 to 29, this is an age group that is 46 million strong. Today, we make up 19 percent of the national vote, while people ages 65 and over make up only 16 percent. Basically, I have more of a say in this election than my grandma, and I haven’t done a single thing about it. In the last election, less than 46 percent of the youth actually voted—we can do better than that!

The right to vote is something we should be excited about. It’s a luxury that people in other countries would kill for. But how can we vote if we don’t know anything about the candidates? We are uninformed. We are straight up ignorant for not paying attention to what’s going on around us, and that’s embarrassing.

We can’t sit around and let this election go by without doing our part. This next president will still be here when we graduate. They’ll in the oval office when we’re getting married. They’ll be playing golf when some of us are having our first child. It’s about time we realize that our lives, all 46 million of us, will be beginning underneath this next president. Soon, we’ll be the ones needing jobs and health care. Doesn’t knowing that change things for you?

So it’s time to start watching the news. Pick up your laptop and get on Jeb Bush’s website. Check out Hillary Clinton’s economic plan to raise middle-class incomes. Watch some videos of Donald Trump saying stupid things during his presidential announcement speech (it’s funny, I swear).

Who cares about Daniel and his white vans? It’s time to get informed on the well-qualified candidates, because there actually are a few, and start supporting them. We can’t get every single one of us to vote in this election, but it starts with you.

We are the people who can change the outcome of this election. We are a force to be reckoned with. The right to vote truly belongs to you. It’s unalienable, and that means something.

You have a voice. You have the tools to get information. You have no excuse.