Many will agree, the low to which candidates have stooped in this year’s election is record setting on both sides of the aisle, and most will be happy when the Nov. 8 presidential election in the history books.

We couldn’t agree more. Our political campaigns have become all out brawls that include vicious personal attacks and insults, while any debate of substance is drowned out. The American voter is the loser.

It’s enough to make voters want to just stay home.

Please don’t.

Our democracy depends on voters going to the polls. How much difference does one vote make? Just ask former Vice President Al Gore, who lost his election to former President George Bush by the narrowest of margins. Who can forget the Florida hanging chad?

In our nation, our vote is our voice. Your vote is the most direct way you have to speak your mind about issues that are important to you.

And, while voting may not matter to you, remember your vote impacts your children. If you don’t cast a ballot, what you want for their future is not represented.

It may not matter to you, but remember, when you vote, you’re voting for your children, too.

Remember, the presidential election is not the only race on the ballot. Here in Vicksburg and Warren County, we’ll be asked to vote for a representative from the second congressional district to the U.S. House of Representative, a state Supreme Court Justice, and a court of appeals judge.

If you aren’t registered to vote, you have until this Saturday to do so. Warren County Circuit Clerk Jan Hyland Daigre’s office will be open on Saturday from 8 a.m. to noon for those who want to register to vote.

Even easier, you may register to vote online at Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann’s website, yallvote.sos.ms.gov.

And for those who will be out of town on Election Day, working and unable to vote, or over 65 and simply want to cast an early ballot, the deadline for absentee voting is Saturday, Nov. 5. The circuit clerk’s office will be open that Saturday, too, from 8 a.m. to noon to accommodate last minute absentee voters. While our politics are often frustrating, the fact that we have a say in how and who governs us is a privilege many are denied.

We hope to see you at the polls Nov. 8!