Hi,

I’ll start this off by saying I don’t want this to come off as pro Hillary or pro Trump. Frankly I feel that would take away from the real reason I’m writing to you all.

That reason of course being that this year you chose to stay silent.

This year of all years.

Look I will be the first to say I am really quite dumb when it comes to politics. It’s simply something I was never very invested in growing up. I was a little nerd, I liked science stuff, politics and business went right over my head.

This year however, something changed and it was incredible. This year was my first year to put my voice into who our next president would be. So despite the fact I really didn’t know much about politics in general, I took some time to educate myself.

If anyone knows me, I do NOT have free time. If I’m not buried in SEH I’m catching up on the sleep I’ve missed over the past four weeks. And yet, I found the time to figure out what these two candidates stood for just simply to orient myself.

After that it took me ten minutes to fill out and send in my absentee ballot.

Boom. Done. There.

It hurts me to think of how many people sat there unable to vote and it absolutely drives me crazy to consider how so many of you sat there silently doing nothing with your voice.

Again, this is not about whether I stood with Trump or Hillary. This is about the sheer absence of participation in the Nation. I realize election day is a Tuesday, a day where many people have to work. I realize that many people felt as if their vote didn't and won't matter. I realize many people feel voting is simply a hassle.

To them I have to say:

First of all, people work. I get that. I work and I go to school. Sometimes it’s just not possible to get out there in the day. I feel that. That being said, early voting is a wildly advertised possibility if you know you won’t be able to go on Tuesday.

Second of all, every vote matters. If you are not from a swing state you probably think your vote doesn’t really matter. So you don’t bother to vote. Because how could just your vote change anything right? You do realize that when everyone thinks that way, of course it isn’t going to change. How can you complain of no change and do nothing about it? Also, in case everyone forgets, it isn’t just the future president that goes on this ballot! There is always something you can change…

Third of all, and perhaps this is just me, but I would much rather go through the slight hassle of getting out to vote or mailing out my vote than to be completely useless to America’s future.

That’s what happens when you don’t vote; you become useless! And then you feel the right to complain about the results? Well, excuse me, you could have made that difference.

And don’t even get me started on the claim that “you didn’t know enough to vote”. Being uneducated nowadays is no longer an excuse. With today’s media presence, all you have to do is turn on a TV for an hour. No time for that? Alright pull out your phone you’re probably reading this article on and type where does “enter candidates name” stand. You can do that walking to class. Waiting in line for mail. Over lunch. Before bed.

Five minutes. It could’ve taken you five minutes to educate yourselves.

So to all of you who chose not to vote this year, especially to all the millennials out there, I hope this reaches you.

More importantly I hope this inspires some sort of change.