Let me tell you a secret: you should care about this year’s election.

There is a disillusionment among Americans, especially of our age demographic, that our votes are useless, unimportant; that, among the great sea of the American public, our measly singular vote will have little to no impact upon the tide of the election. But, statistically, that’s not exactly true. Due to the great number of people harboring those beliefs, voter turnout is abysmally low. For reference, in a vote-to-registration ratio (that is, the number of people who vote divided by the number of people who are registered to vote), the top ten countries – among which are Australia, Indonesia, and Austria – boast voter turnout ratios above 90 percent.

The United States? 66.5 percent. We’re listed as 120 out of a list of 169 countries.

But these are just numbers, statistics for you to swallow down and throw away. There’s very little to comprehend about numbers, except to look at these statistics and realize that, in the grand scheme of things, ours could be classified as “bad.” And this data is only from a few years ago; the numbers have deteriorated since, in a global trend toward decreasing civic participation in the political sphere.

Why does this matter, then, to a group of young people? When you begin to look at the voter turnout statistics for elections, one thing becomes glaringly obvious: young people don’t vote. Voter turnout rates experienced similar pitfalls and rises in various election years across all age ranges, but the most glaringly obvious one is witnessed in the 18-29-year-old sector. A full 20 percent below the next block of voters (ages 30-44), the youth of today (and of the last four decades) have a serious issue with turning out for elections.

And this is not a trend that we want to continue. The millennial generation is a lot of things, but it is also the future of our country and of our political network. We matter, in the grand scope of the United States and its political history. The people we are putting into office are making decisions that will impact our lives, not those over 60, whose voter turnout rates are consistently the highest. The leaders that are elected, the laws that are enacted, and the change that is pushed forth are all inextricably linked back to us. And that means that we – and our votes – matter.

We joke about the election and for whom we are voting, but in reality, most of us will not even show up on Election Day. Most of us are not even registered. But why don’t we change the stereotype that the millennial generation is detached, uninvolved, privileged and self-obsessed, and lacking depth? Why don’t we take that cliché and stamp it out with a sticker that says “I Voted”?

So get registered. Educate yourself. Watch the debates, or go back and look at the ones you missed. Read up on the candidates’ platforms – all of them, not just the ones you know your parents or your friends or your Facebook friends talk and post about. The election is in nine months. Go vote. It matters.

For more information regarding voting, registering to vote, and absentee ballots, click here.

For more information regarding voter turnout statistics, click here.