Why you should vote for who you want

The United States is merely a handful of weeks away from a big election. As Americans we have the right to vote for officials who will effect our daily lives for years to come - taxes, personal rights, the economy, traffic laws, growth of the area we live in, etc.

It has been impressed upon us that we should be American and vote. Punch that card, click that button, mark that ballot for one of those people on that preapproved list.

Yet many people are disenchanted with the system. "Why should I vote when it won't make a difference?" When most people say this, I believe they are referring to the presidential election. The way that the system works with the electoral college means that often your one vote doesn't really affect the outcome. If you didn't vote, would Harry Potter really have lost the presidency to Draco Malfoy? If you were really the only one who did not vote, probably not. However, when the "you"s out there multiply, it adds up.

There's a saying that if voting really changed things, there would be a law against it.

We can change this. We have other options than the ones spelled out for us on the ballot. Don't just vote for whoever is on that list. Vote for who you want. Write their name in. If everyone actually voted for who the thought would do the best job, the politicians would begin to notice. Sure, it may take a few elections, but eventually we could have more than two political parties. We could have candidates that truly represented us. We wouldn't have to pick the lesser of two evils. There would be other options.

So, be as American as you can be. Vote for whoever you want.