Today's election day.

Like every weekday, my alarm clock went off dark and early at 5:30am. But unlike every day, I woke up with a strange sense of anticipation - it's election day! By tonight (hopefully), we will know the next president of the United States. And oh my goodness what a CRAZY ride this has been!

Many of my friends have already voted, be it absentee or in our local college town. YAY! But some of them have not, and some of them claim that it doesn't even matter. Here's the thing - it does.

I am not a political science major, nor have I taken any sort of government class since senior year of high school. So while I am by no means an expert in the political system, I am confident that our votes do matter.

Here's the other thing: I left the ballot blank when voting for president. As a Christian, I could not find it in myself morally acceptable to fill in the bubble for either Hillary or Donald. To understand the motivations behind this decision, check out this link.

Our president has power, and trust me, it wasn't easy leaving that portion of my ballot blank. (I even teared up a little bit at the polling station). But even after leaving those bubbles blank, my vote still matters, even when I didn't vote for a presidential candidate.

Get out there and vote for your congressmen, your local government officials and local amendments. Our votes matter here, and despite your excitement or disgust over this most recent election, these men and women are key to the success of our political system.

So if you're sitting here reading this and thinking it doesn't - educate yourself and then just go do it. Because it still matters.