It's no secret that this election has been absolutely maddening. It's starting to feel like nothing can shock us anymore, that nothing else can possibly happen that will make us roll our eyes or cringe in disgust more than the last debacle we had to deal with--and we're wrong. Every. Single. Time.

One of the more recent cringe-worthy moments from the Trump campaign (and by the time this article is published there will probably be another) was the release of a tape in which Trump and Billy Bush talked about sexually assaulting women. Of course, they didn't use those exact words, and it was dismissed as "locker room talk." No surprise, that wasn't a big hit with voters, especially women.

There's about a million things to unpack about the release of the tape, from the tape itself, to the media's reaction, to Trump's faux apology, his family's excuses, and how it seems Trump only became a problem when he targeted white women, as if he hadn't insulted every other minority first. Not long after that scandal, Nate Silver analyzed voting patterns based on if only men or only women voted. The map that showed only men voting was predominately red, while the only-women map was predominately blue. The hashtag that started trending in retaliation was enough to make any woman's skin crawl.

#RepealThe19th. As in, repeal the 19th Amendment, ratified in 1919, which gave (white) women the right to vote.

This was some level of crazy we didn't think was possible. At least, I didn't. I was still clinging to a tiny shred of naivety, despite everything Trump and his supports have done and said already (inciting riots, mocking a disabled reporter, saying his opponent should be assassinated, being charged with child rape, threatening to jail his opponent if he wins, making the Orlando massacre about him, still insisting the Central Park Five are guilty...I could go on forever), thinking that it couldn't get any worse.

It did.

It's going to keep getting worse, unless we use our Constitutional right to vote.

Let's talk about the 19th Amendment. Getting it ratified was a decades-long battle fought by suffragettes who believed in equal treatment between men and women. Women like Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucy Stone, and Margaret Fuller marched, held rallies, voted illegally, and were arrested for standing up to the patriarchal government and demanding the right to vote.

It would be an egregious oversight if I didn't also mention that because of the 15th Amendment, anyone was allowed to vote regardless of race, but not regardless of gender. While the 19th Amendment applied to all women, many white suffragettes still believed in a racist system that would have prevented women of color from voting. For decades after this amendment was passed, African Americans were subjected to truly ridiculous laws that prohibited them from casting a ballot. They had to pass literacy tests, or prove that their grandparents had been citizens. The people who enacted these laws knew that most of the African Americans voting at the time were former slaves, or the children of slaves, and had little or no formal education. Even now, people are being intimidated at their polling places and face numerous obstacles when trying to cast their vote.

Let's talk about how Donald Trump himself has urged his supporters to https://www.thenation.com/article/donald-trump-is-encouraging-intimidation-and-racial-profiling-at-the-polls/"observe" their polling places for suspicious behavior, but voter fraud http://www.scholarsstrategynetwork.org/brief/misleading-myth-voter-fraud-american-electionsdoesn't happen as often as you think.

Let's talk about the http://www.nationalreview.com/article/441319/donald-trump-alt-right-internet-abuse-never-trump-movementgross threats and insults Trump supports have http://usuncut.com/politics/trump-supporters-now-sending-death-threats/aimed at minorities via social media.

Let's talk about the fact that Trump, his supporters, and the majority of the GOP have been claiming that President Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Democrats and liberals in general want to "take away our guns" and "get rid of the Second Amendment." Neither the president nor Secretary Clinton have said either of those things. Yes, they're for stricter gun control, but how can you not be? Yes, you have the constitutional right to bear arms, but your right to protect yourself does not trump (no pun intended) others' right to safety.

Meanwhile, the mere idea of taking away the 19th Amendment became a hashtag--and why? Because Trump supporters saw that if only women voted, they would lose? And they have the nerve to apply the word loser to their critics. I've never witnessed a bigger collective temper tantrum than the one Trump and his supporters are throwing. The level of hypocrisy is staggering.

Women's rights are at the forefront of this election. It has come down between a woman with 30+ years of political experience, and a man who has never succeeded at anything except being a bully. He's even threatened that he http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/trump-threatens-not-accept-presidential-election-results-article-1.2837425won't accept anything less than a win on election night, which is not only terrifying (and, unfortunately, typical) is it a threat to American democracy.

So to everyone who's still undecided: get up and vote, but vote wisely. Don't vote for the man who's proven himself to be a misogynist, a sexual predator, a poor businessman, racist, thin-skinned, temperamental, inexperienced, and a sore loser. Don't split the vote by writing in Bernie Sanders or vote third party--this is not the election for a protest vote. Sanders himself has endorsed Clinton because she is literally our only hope at stopping Trump. A Trump presidency would mean a trip back to the Dark Ages. It means an increasing rise of hatred, ignorance, and bigotry. It means a more dangerous America. It might also mean nuclear warfare, or another civil war.

This is my first time voting. I am going to use this incredible honor and responsibility--my right as an American citizen--to help elect the first woman president.