Many people of the younger generation believe nowadays that their vote doesn’t matter. In a way, it’s simple to understand why a person might feel that way.

What are the chances that one vote, our vote, is going to turn over the violent tides and pull your choice of candidate through? Logically, it just doesn’t make sense.

However, this is not a mentality that anyone should have.

We live in a democracy that is ran by the people through the act of voting. It is a privilege that many others, such as myself, wish to have and should not be taken for granted.

I immigrated to this country when I was young from Mexico and am not qualified to vote until I am granted citizenship because of it.

I wish to be able to vote in this country, which I consider more of a home than the country I barely remember.
Despite knowing this country and studying the political systems and government that I live under, I am not permitted to vote and participate in one of the many rights that my peers get and seem to not care about.

The younger generation, the future of our society and the new leaders of the United States, have all but lost confidence in the power that their vote has.

They take the right that no other country would have given them and toss it away for the sole reason that ‘it won’t make a difference’.

I have heard my friends speak of not voting, some going as far as to not even register, because they see it as an inconvenience instead of their chance of taking control of their futures.

These friends are the same people who complain about what is happening in today’s world, yet somehow refuse to use their power as the people to attempt to make a change for the better.

An American who does not vote has no right to complain about the people in positions of power when they themselves did nothing to stop it.

My vote, despite not having one yet, matters because it shows that I am just as American as those who had the privilege of being born in the United States.

It shows that despite my status as an immigrant, I am not an outsider in the country I was raised in.

My future vote symbolizes my conformity and acceptance to the greatest country in the world and my desire to become a functioning and active member of society.

My vote matters because, regardless of my place of birth, I am and will always be an American.