Election year is coming up quick and will be here before you know it. It's easy to tell ourselves that November 2020 isn't for over a year, but it is already time to start getting involved.

During the 2016 election, I was too young to vote. I knew so many upperclassmen in my high school who were old enough to vote, but didn't. They made excuses about how the "didn't understand" or "didn't care for" politics.

On the other hand, I heard from friends and even some family members that, despite voting, they decided to vote for a candidate they didn't like, just because it was a vote "against" a candidate they found controversial. Because of all of this, we have a president in office who not only lost the popular vote but has terrible approval ratings. At some points throughout his presidency, they have been lower than we have seen for the past 7 presidencies. His approval ratings help to show that he is not the right candidate to represent our American voice.

As much as I'd love to talk about my own political beliefs, we have to look around that. The most important thing to ensure our president is the best representation of America is to do our part. We need to step up and be active in politics. We need to educate ourselves and stay informed, and most importantly, we need to vote as soon as we are legally old enough to do so. Our generation has so much instant access to any information we want to know, including politics. We can, in minutes, learn about who we are represented by. (Not our families, not our peers, just ourselves.) Our best possible president will come from our true personal ideas and beliefs, not the ones our friends and families may push onto us. With all this instant access, there is no way we can continue to use the excuse of "not being informed".

The other excuse I'm tired of hearing is that people are "not interested" in presidential politics. However, these are the same people I hear complain about who is in office or complain about gun laws and problems in women's rights. We can't continue to be lazy and accept the change around us. We have an American right to use our voices, and this is something many countries would fight to have.

I encourage anyone reading this to start being active in this search for our 2020 candidate. Democratic Debates have already started, and the next is in September. Presidential Debates (including both parties) will start once the Democratic candidates are narrowed down. Keep up with the debates, polls, caucuses, and conventions, and get to know your candidates. It's time our voices are heard.

Helpful Links:

This is a super thorough list of all the candidates running to be the 2020 president. It includes in-depth detail of all the candidate's beliefs and goals. Because President Donald Trump is re-running for 2020, most people are familiar with his campaign and ideals, and his description won't be found in many of these articles. However, if you are unfamiliar with his campaign, you can visit his campaign website.

This is another list of all running candidates from both parties and presents their ideals in a quicker, simpler way. Perfect for the people just getting into politics, or the people who don't want to do heavy reading to be active in our politics.

This is a website to help you keep up with the polls, which helps know which candidates are leading. It is updated every day. You can click around this website to find all kinds of polls based on the election, or based on the party.

This is a calendar for the entire election process. The election process is long and has already begun. You can already check which events are coming up soon, like the September debates. This calendar will be updated frequently as more dates are announced or changed, so be sure to bookmark it.

This is another election calendar. I find this one more detailed, but also easier to read. Bookmark this one if you prefer, or both, as dates are likely to be changed or added.