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I am not going to discuss which candidate is better than the other. I’m not going to discuss which political party is better than the other. All I want to talk about here is how relieved I am to finally feel like my vote mattered.

Let me give you a bit of voting history here.

I am from California and I am 22 years old. My first real election was Bush v. Kerry. Talk about a terrible first experience. Californians love flip flops, but Kerry almost made us change our minds. And Bush…well we’ve seen the results of his re-election. Not only that, but the way Bush won was so controversial that I almost lost faith in how the American election system is structured. All of this right on the heels of California voting in the terminator for governor. Sometimes I wonder why certain people are allowed to vote.

After those 2 botched voting experiences I end up living in the bible belt just before the most important presidential election of my life. This is a big deal since I tend to think (socially) Democratic, and the bible belt in general is highly Republican.

Great, so now my vote for president won’t be heard no matter what since Georgia is obviously voting Republican!

In come the most closely watched presidential primary race in the history of the United States. I would have never thought the primaries would be my savior. Even if my state is going to end up supporting the Republicans, my voice can help pick which Democrat stands up to that Republican and hopefully beats them. Also, since less people vote in the primaries and the votes are split between Republicans and Democrats, my vote holds more weight. 1 vote in a total 300,000 (that’s a guess) means a lot more than 1 vote in 18,000,000 (another guess).

So to wrap this up, I am happier than ever to have a voice in politics after years and years of frustration. My vote matters and I am re-energized politically. I now feel like going to the polls is important and plan on voting on everything that comes my way.