On Oct. 25, 2024, I made my voice heard by voting in the upcoming Nov. 5 Presidential election. As an out-of-state college student, voting on Election Day wouldn’t have been easy, so I used early voting to my advantage and cast my vote while visiting family for the weekend.
In Philadelphia and many other cities, citizens have the option to cast an early vote. Early voting allows people to go to certain locations to fill out their ballot before Election Day to mitigate any challenges a person would have, if any, trying to vote on Election Day.
 It is also a great option for people who may feel stressed about sending their ballot through the mail. My brother and I went to city hall and waited patiently in line in order to be a part of the change we wanted to see in this country.
This was not my first opportunity to exercise my right to vote, but it was my first time voting for our future president. Voting in this election was especially crucial to me because there are a lot of issues on the line, such as birth control rights, education, freedom of speech, and our future.Â
As a woman, the overturning of Roe v. Wade was very, very disheartening, and knowing that former President Donald Trump took credit for it is even worse because I can only imagine how much more of our rights he is going to restrict. As a student, learning what Trump has in store for education and knowing he is not alone is scary.
 Several Republicans running for office, such as the Wisconsin senate candidate, Eric Hovde, the Ohio senate candidate, Bernie Moreno, and the Montana senate candidate, Tim Sheehy, all want to literally get rid of the Department of Education, and that is beyond insane to me. In my opinion a vote for Trump, is the beginning of the end, so making my voice heard was integral to me.
The election process was nothing new to me. Growing up, my grandmother would take my brother and I to the polls with her to show us how important it was to vote. She voted no matter how big or small the election was, and now it’s my turn to vote.
For decades, African Americans had to fight for the right to vote, and even then, my ancestors faced intentional barriers to prevent them from being able to vote. Poll taxes, literacy tests, and grandfather clauses are all examples of racist practices that were used to prevent African Americans from voting for years, and it wasn’t that long ago it ended!Â
The Voting Rights Act was signed into law in 1965–only 59 years ago. There are grandparents still alive today who can give first-person accounts of the barriers they faced. I can’t stress it enough—your vote matters! They wouldn’t have worked so hard to prevent us from voting if it didn’t.