With the primary elections coming up, most of you, I hope, are either registered to vote or are planning to. We have all heard the lecture of why voting is important and why you should register. Don’t forget that history professor in high school that made you feel guilty if you didn’t registered because, after all, it is your freedom and some have died for you to have that right. So, the question is: why is it that there are some people that are still not registered?

Voting is an imperative part of our overall duties as citizens. Whether you are voting at a City Council meeting, voting for city/county elections, or voting for the Presidential Election, it is essential in order for the best candidate to receive that particular spot in office. If there are people who don’t vote (and trust me, there are a LOT), that means that those people are not being represented and therefore make this process mean nothing!

There has been a prevalent apathy among those able to vote and it seems as if there is no way to fix this growing issue. Our great-great-grandparents would roll over in their graves (do I sound like your high school history professor yet?) if they only knew! It is up to us to be educated, stay informed, and most importantly to take part in our democratic process. Also, you don't want to be that person who doesn't vote, and isn't even registered, and still gives other people their opinion on different political issues and candidates. We all know that person..

There are websites that are unbiased and are there for people to get accurate information, all factual, about the different candidates running for all the parties. There is votesmart.org, which is my favorite, and many others you can find. When doing your own personal research, be careful and cautious. The media can be very powerful at influencing your thoughts about a certain candidate without you even realizing it. Those thoughts you could create may come from a source that is biased, so it is always safe to double check information you have heard or read. In this day and age, it is very difficult to know what the truth is and what a lie is.

If you are from the Cole’s County community and you are not registered to vote, feel free to come to the weeklong event Eastern Illinois University's Student Government and the Political Science Association is organizing Oct. 26-30, 2015. Below is the flyer that has the dates, times, and locations of where you can register to vote!