During every election cycle, it’s common to hear and read people’s opinions in which they claim, for some reason or another, that they won’t be voting. Often times, and particularly this year, people base that on the fact that they don’t believe any candidate is suitable. Others don’t feel that their vote matters, especially in very red or blue states with the Electoral College utilizing a winner take all strategy. Some people claim to not know enough about the candidates, and others simply never vote.

I have a huge problem with that.

Voting is a right that we take for granted far more than we should. For a long time in the United States, only white, property-owning men could vote. African-Americans were given the right to vote in 1870, yet were blockaded from exercising that right for many years, until the Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965. The first country to allow women to vote was New Zealand in 1893. The United States didn’t allow women to vote until 1920, 80 years after people began working for the cause. It is easy to forget that people dedicated their lives to these battles, as we live in a world where such blatant inequality seems impossible. But we only have this luxurious mindset because some people gave everything in the name of suffrage.

The reasons people make for not voting don’t work for me. We are so privileged to have the right to vote. We are so lucky to live in a country where democracy is a way of life. Why should we not exercise that right? In Saudi Arabia, women just voted for the first time in history. They don’t even have regular elections; in 2009, the municipal elections were pushed back two whole years. That would never happen in the United States, and for that, we are very fortunate.

There are so many different ways to learn about the candidates these days. Watch the news, read the paper, check out online sources, subscribe to a newsletter like the Skimm, follow candidates on social media. If people took a few extra minutes out of one day to look at a candidate’s platform, they may get a better idea of what that person stands for.

People will say “all the candidates are horrible, so it’s not worthwhile.” Pick the best choice! We live in a representative democracy; these are the people that are making the big decisions for us. Find the person you align with the most. There will most likely never be a candidate that you feel is your perfect match, that’s the way it is.

Register to vote now, before the presidential election really gets underway in November. Voting is a right that must be exercised. Don’t be the person who complains about the results, even though you didn’t do what you could to sway them. Politics are politics, and there will always be things you disagree with, but at the end of the day, it is our duty as citizens to let our voices be heard and vote.