To all of the participants of political conversations that went on next to me in public and I never threw myself into because I didn't want to make myself seem like a weirdo,

To the Trump supporters,

Why?

To the people who are voting for Trump because Hillary is a "crook,"

Okay, I understand where your frustration is coming from. I realize that maybe she wasn't the most ethical candidate this race, but let's think about who the other option is, really.

Essentially, what you're saying is you would rather have a misogynistic, racist, classist, bigoted, white supremacist who has zero political experience and has little to no realistic plans for policy over someone who has been pretty much been groomed to run for this position.

You are willing to vote for someone who will literally run this country into the ground and laugh as it burns over someone who understands how this country is meant to work... all because she did something that you didn't like.

To the people who want to vote third party,

In no way am I saying that we are right to be running this country on a two party system. Political views are on a spectrum and yes, maybe we should have another party for those who are too far right or too far left or too moderate to identify as a Democrat or a Republican. However, now is not the time to try to prove that point. The stakes are too incredibly high to try to elect a third party candidate.

Whenever someone tries to convince me to vote third party, I always bring up the 2000 Presidential Election. For those who need a history lesson, in 2000, Al Gore won the Democratic nomination; however, Ralph Nader thought that he had enough of a following to win the presidency, and encouraged people to write him in. Ralph Nader is a liberal. So come Election Day, liberals walked into the voting booths and either voted for Al Gore or wrote Ralph Nader in, while conservatives voted for George W. Bush. This is a phenomena called "splitting the ticket." So since Ralph Nader's following was not large enough to take a significant amount of votes from Al Gore and vice versa, George W. Bush became president and threw us into what was perhaps one of the worst presidencies to ever happen in this country's history.

Now, everyone who is trying to preach Jill Stein's or Gary Johnson's agenda is essentially putting us at risk for repeating history with much, much higher stakes. In a previous article, I wrote about my love for Bernie Sanders and how heavily I identify with his ideology and how he really was the most ideal candidate for me. Did it hurt to watch him lose the nomination? Absolutely, one-hundred and ten percent. Could I still write him in? Probably. But I'm not going to because I don't want to be part of the reason that Trump gets elected.

A vote for anyone but Hillary is a vote for Trump.

To everyone who wants to abstain,

Please, please do not be under the notion that your vote doesn't matter. That you're just one vote and just one vote won't make or break the election, but it could. Your vote absolutely matters. I understand that Hillary doesn't completely stand for what you stand for, but, God forbid, when Trump is in office and reversing decades worth of progression, you're going to regret not voting and preventing that moment from happening.

Hillary is trying, she really is. She's trying to reach out to minorities and, although it may not be something consistent, she is changing things about her platform that attracted us to Bernie. She's listening, and she's making an effort. I've met people who are a part of her team (some I know personally) and they're all incredible human beings who just want to see our society progress further.

Please register to vote. Please go vote on Election Day. Please be a part of the reason that positive change will happen in this country.

Sincerely,

Narissa