Despite making up a significant portion of the population, young people 18+ count for a frighteningly small percentage of voters. There are many possible reasons for this; we don't think our individual votes matter, we're busy, or maybe we just don't like any of the candidates enough to give them our vote. This needs to stop, especially in a year like this. This is no normal election year, America. We are on the cusp of making history by electing the first female President (which many other countries have beat us to, by the way). At the same time, however, we are shockingly close to having an orange, hate-fueled bigot run the White House and country. I'll admit that this post may be a bit biased, but please keep reading and you'll find out why. Neither candidate is perfect, that's easy to say, but one thing I hear all too often is someone saying "I just can't see myself voting for either of them." We can not think this way, and this November we need to declare ourselves and what we want the future of this country to look like by voting.

There are many reasons we millennials need to get out and vote this year, the first of which being that we are the most educated generation yet. Because of this, we are more capable of making intelligent choices, having more background knowledge of politics, and knowing the benefits of diversity. Going to college tends to make people more open minded, hence while you'll probably find a lot more liberals on a college campus than you will conservatives (of course depending on the region and school.) Wouldn't it be best if the people making up the most highly educated generation were also the ones most likely to vote?

For many of us young people, this is probably the first time we are actually able to vote in a major election. This is the first time we get to vote for what will be best for us. We want change. We want to not live the rest of our lives in debt for going to college. We want paid maternity/paternity leave if we ever decide to have children, like every other industrialized nation in the world. We want equal pay for both genders. We want equal rights for all. We want people not to face prejudice or persecution because of their race, gender, or sexual orientation/identity. We need to vote in order to see these changes happen, or else things are going to start heading backwards instead of forwards.

This year is different than before, and we cannot act as though both candidates are equally as awful. I know, "Hillary is corrupt," "the emails," "Benghazi," etc. Even if you know nothing about the Democratic nominee, you've probably heard countless others complain about her and treat her as equally as undesirable as Trump. The thing is, Trump has turned this country into a joke to other nations, and "The Donald" as President is downright frightening. He has hardly proposed any actual plans for bettering this country, and those that he has are regressive, attempting to take us back to a fictional, 1950's era traditional fantasy, a predominantly white society where the women stay home and care for children and immigrants apparently do not exist. He has proposed plans that are inherently racist in nature, gained support from increasing Islamophobia, and said that he will redact the 2015 legalization of gay marriage. All this not to mention his wildly sexist and misogynistic remarks towards women, both prior to and during his Presidential campaign, not in the least made up for by his new attempted appeal to women by way of a maternity leave plan. This man is dangerous, and even many who are identify as strong Republicans are rejecting to vote for him. If you watched the recent debate, Trump made his usual misogynistic, sexist comments, while regularly interrupting both his opponent and the moderator. Most educated people would agree that if anyone won the debate, it was certainly not him. Yet his poll numbers have not decreased, and this is frightening.

Many would see the logical answer in this situation as voting for a third party candidate, but I urge you not to. Unfortunately, voting third party is as good as not voting. Because the masses are not willing to vote for these minor candidates, it is just a waste of a vote, and can even go straight to the opposing major party nominee. If you despise Trump but refuse to vote for Hillary, and thereby vote for a third party nominee, you practically just handed a vote to Trump by not voting for Hillary. It's an unfortunate situation, especially when you actually agree with the views of one of these minor party nominees, but no one ever said the American election process was perfect.

Overall, I cannot stress how important it is for people in our generation to get out and vote this November. Educate yourselves on each candidate, and make the decision for you and your country. If you can't make it to the polls in person, there are other options such as early voting and absentee votes. If you have not already, register to vote today. We can make a difference.