Voting for the first time felt surreal.

As I stood in line with my mom, I couldn’t help but feel like an adult. In my early teenage years, I had a preconception about elections – that the process was complicated and confusing – but I was shocked by how simple and effortless it was.

Although I have always been an advocate for eligible citizens to vote, actually doing it myself made me realize just how important voting is. Furthermore, I am speaking directly to the younger generations: Do we really want old mindsets governing our states and nation? Or, for the same candidates to be re-elected because of “experience”?

Elections are paramount to a functioning society. It’s extremely important for voters to consider the overall characteristics of candidates and who would best demonstrate an understanding of the nation as it is, but also how to improve and modernize the gray areas society sweeps under the rug.

As part of the younger generation, citizens like myself are individuals that will not only form the working class of society in time, but live in the world congressmen and women enact. Likewise, candidates who fill the seats that govern the nation should be individuals with life experience as well as individuals who will walk or have walked the same path.

Moreover, I believe that voting should be mandatory because citizens are living in a democracy. Is that not the point? Is it not right for all citizens to vote if elections ought to happen?

Voting is the most accurate and reliable way to display the public’s view on how the nation should be run as well as who is qualified enough to represent the people. While casting my votes, I remember observing all of the candidates and thinking over and over again: Who will represent me as a person?

Candidates are more than just their beliefs; it’s the level of respect they have for communities, regardless of their ethnicity, age, gender, or socio-economic status, that citizens should judge when voting. Personally, I feel that voting is essential to a stable democracy and that proper representation arises when all citizens participate.