The act of voting is a formal expression of opinion or choice, either positive or negative, made by an individual or body of individuals. So, why should we go out and vote? In my eyes, as well as the eyes of many individuals in power, voting is possibly one of the most important duties one can perform in his or her lifetime.

After the past eight years with George Bush in office, people have come to develop different views and opinions on how to change things that are occurring in our economy and lifestyles. Although the government is there to serve the people of this country, it’s sometimes hard to get our voices across to those who matter. The individual who seems to have a great deal of power in establishing change in the lives of people is the president.

By being people in today’s society, helping to choose our president is a very important task. By voting we are definitely showing a way in which we can help promote change, and all we have to do is make sure we continue putting our voices out in the open.

On Sept. 30, the Rev. Al Sharpton came to our UNCC Campus. Sharpton urged students to go out and make sure to register to vote so their votes will count in this important upcoming election. Of course, Chancellor Dubois was in attendance to this important lecture. The chancellor made sure to mention that voting was one of the most important things we, as a people, can do in our lifetime.

Walking around campus over the past few weeks, students received a great opportunity to get registered to vote. I was asked at least 10 times by random people if I was registered to vote, and if I wasn’t, they had a stack of forms ready for me in their hands. Not only this, but recently I’ve noticed that in the Cone Center there are a bunch of posters posted up with the word ‘VOTE’ in big, bold red letters.

Taking a closer look, I noticed that on the posters was a display of voting locations and times. To my excitement, UNCC’s Cone Center will be a location for voting to occur.

Having a voting poll located on campus gives UNCC students that are registered to vote no reason not to head to the Cone Center and cast their vote.

The polls will be open from Oct. 16 to Nov. 1. For more election-related information, you can go to Mecklenburg County Board of Elections.

If you are looking to help and make a change in today’s current conditions, make sure to go out and vote. Voting only hurts when you don’t do it.

If you don’t go out and vote, you cannot complain when the candidate elected wasn’t the one you had in mind; especially when you have the opportunity in the palm of your hand and you find yourself not doing your part.