For many of us college students, this November will be the first time ever that we get to vote for the president of the United States. For myself, I missed the last election by just two days and I was very upset. Politics can be boring and uninteresting; especially topics we do not fully understand like the foreign policies, war, or financial decisions. However, we are granted a right as American citizens to let our voice be heard. So, how can one make an educated political decision and decide who to vote for?

Today, it's nearly impossible to find real facts and unbiased information on political candidates. In fact, there is so much bias surrounding both sides of the election that it's almost impossible to not run into it on a daily basis. Political bias is generally seen on the news, on social media, or even out on the streets. Most of the time someone will take information that an opposing candidate has given and use it out of context to create a more negative image of this candidate. Both parties do this and it's starting to drive me crazy. Here's why.

I am an intelligent individual. I am college educated and I take pride in learning information about the world and life. When I knew I would be old enough to vote for president in 2016, I immediately started doing research on all of the candidates to see who I may want to vote for. I took quizzes, I looked up websites that were non-biased, I tried to avoid one-sided opinions from family and friends. My parents were very supportive and never swayed my viewpoints to one side. They encouraged that I do my own research. I did and continue to do so and I am proud of myself. Even though politics can be a bore, I push myself to find valid information. However, the second I turn on the news or log into my Facebook, it looks like all my hard work has been lost. We all know there are certain news channels with certain political sides, but until this year, I didn't realize the large number of politically biased websites.

There are videos going around that have capturing titles about the candidates and sometimes they get me, so I click play. But then, as soon as I click play I get irritated and check to see which website posted the video. The video is purposely set up to make this particular candidate look bad and it is taking there words and changing them around! What irritates me the most is that hundreds and even thousands of people are using these videos to decide who to vote for! They are taking the videos seriously and using them to get political information. It makes me so angry that I've worked so hard to find factual political information, and the media is swaying people's views so easily with a biased video that is not offering good information in the least bit. It got me so angry one day that I decided to stop doing research and to drop out and not vote at all in the election.

I was so annoyed by political bias, that I decided I just would not pay attention to politics anymore. However, what I didn't realize was that I still can vote and do research while ignoring the bias. If all of the people who truly did research decided not to vote, then the only voters left would be those who are voting solely off biased facts. It's not easy to ignore bias. Political bias is everywhere. However, I'm going to ignore it all. I can watch both a republican and democratic news channel about the same issues. I can watch live TV broadcasts about the candidates. I can check who is relaying the information to me before I use it to get information. I can ignore the viewpoints of people my age, because majority of them are young democrats. And I can ignore the viewpoints of older people, because majority of them are older republicans.

I know politics is a game. Political bias will never go away. The election has become a game of popularity and they will get votes in any way that they can. However, to me, it is not a game. The election will determine many factors about my future and the future of my children. The media can offer their opinions all they want, but I'm not using that as information. I'm going to continue to do my own research.

Ultimately when you go into the booth to vote, you are alone. No one else can press that button except for you, so why should any other opinions have an effect on who who vote for? I'm sick of political bias and I wish there was a way to yell at all the people who use it as a valid way to argue their side, but I can't. I can only worry about myself. So in that case, I will continue to make myself, and only myself, proud by finding real facts, and in the end, I will vote based alone, on the real facts I have found.