Although I’ve never served in an elected office, I’ve been a political junkie since my early teens. I earned my undergraduate degree in political science and have always followed our nation’s politics closely, and I wholeheartedly believe that we, as Americans, have a civic responsibility to vote. Our government is hardly perfect and, naturally, there will always be issues on which our country’s citizens are divided. Our airwaves, headlines, and dinner table conversations are consumed with political chatter and debate on such issues, but far too many people are eager to voice their complaints and opinions to anyone who will listen without ever voicing them where it counts—at the polls.

Over the years, I’ve heard countless intelligent people explain their decision not to vote with excuses like “my vote doesn’t matter” or “my vote won’t change the outcome,” and it never fails to frustrate me. Approximately 18% of registered voters who rarely or never vote, and 30% of eligible but unregistered nonvoters, do not participate in elections for this very reason. This is not an insignificant number of people, given the low voter turnout in the U.S. In recent elections, about 60% of eligible persons have participated in elections during presidential election years and only 40% or so have voted in midterm elections. An even smaller percentage of the voting-eligible population participates in odd-year, primary, and local elections. If we could collectively shed the misconception that one vote does not matter, voter turnout would increase substantially and almost certainly would impact election outcomes. After all, elections are determined by those who show up to the polls.

Saturday, February 29th is the Democratic Primary in South Carolina and the first of three statewide elections in 2020. While this is a party-specific race, I would urge those of you who have a preference as to the Democratic nominee to consider each of the candidates and take the time to vote next Saturday. Even if you do not plan to participate in the upcoming primary, now is a great time to take a look at South Carolina’s 2020 election schedule, set calendar reminders for upcoming elections, and make transportation arrangements if needed. If you’re not yet registered to vote, you can easily do so online at scvotes.org, where you can also update your voter registration and view your personal voter information, including your precinct location and voting districts.

Remember: your voice matters and your vote matters.  So get out there and vote!