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Quoting a line that we heard in the documentary, Barack Obama said to “don’t boo, VOTE!” Our ability to vote should be more than a right, it should be a duty and I especially liked the last article, “Think your votes don’t count? Then why are people suppressing it” because it answers the question of why we actually vote other than to get our favorite candidate on as president. If we were to not vote, we would be wasting the years that Americans have spent, trying to get voting rights to all people. The years of fighting, riots, arguments would all go to waste. Moreover, why would presidential candidate be traveling around the nation if they all knew that voters didn’t matter. The countless dollars the candidates spend trying to build up their campaign would be useless if they knew that people wouldn’t vote.

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I agree with Anet that voting matters. First of all, how the country will be like should be decided by everyone. We choose to live in a democratic country, we chose democracy over other forms of ruling. If we don't vote, the democracy is broken. When you vote, you are actually helping yourself, and showing your independence. You won't want other people deciding for yourself right? Once you turn 18, many people enjoy the freedom of leaving your parents, voting is like a freedom too, so if you seek for that freedom from parents, vote and show your newly aquired freedom! Lastly, voting helps the community. Think bigger, voting helps not only yourself to show your position, but also helps the community as whole. You also want to be recognized by the people you vote for, for them to listen to what you hope for your country.

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One puzzling phenomenon I have encountered over my many years as a cybersecurity executive is tech people who react poorly to being reminded to vote-not whom to vote for, mind you; just simply to vote.

"Why vote?" they ask, usually adding something like, "My vote won't matter anyway."

In my view, those people are wrong. Here are seven reasons to vote.
1. Democracy breaks if nobody votes
When there is no voting, there is no democracy. Want to live in a dictatorship? Me neither. Want to live in a monarchy? LOL, sure sounds quaint .

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All modern democracies have their issues, and no system is perfect. The United States' system in particular seems set up to reward the very rich at the moment, but that is neither here nor there.

Democracies involve voting on things. That's how it works. So if you think democracy is a good form of government (or at least better than some of the alternatives), voting is essential.

As Winston Churchill put it , "Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government, except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time." I'm with Winston.
2. Voting is part of independence and thinking for yourself
Do you let other people make all of your decisions for you, or do you value independent thought? If personal independence is important to you, then voting should be too. You see, it turns out that the Declaration of Independence was as much about personal liberties as anything else. Preserve that right.

Make your own decisions based on as much data as you can gather, and act on them through voting.

I am among those who believe that you forfeit your right to bitch and complain about government if you fail to vote. And I find that complaining about government is a healthy and often a productive activity. I vote so that I can register my own independent thinking. And then I follow up that voting by interacting with my elected officials. You should too.

When it comes to getting involved in the political process, Abraham Lincoln put it best: "Elections belong to the people. It's their decision. If they decide to turn their back on the fire and burn their behinds, then they will just have to sit on their blisters."

Ultimately, you should research your candidates and the issues, and make an informed vote that works for you. After all, if you don't vote in your own interests, who will?
3. Voting is the great equalizer
In the United States, voting is for all citizens over 18. Since every citizen gets an equal say (assuming that they vote), voting equalizes smart and stupid, poor and rich, liberal and conservative, diamond-soled and barefoot, bib overalls-wearing and yoga pants-clad. As such, voting is an embodiment of yin and yang, and you know how I feel about that symbol.

Plus, smart people vote. You're smart, right?
4. Voting is how you take part in something bigger than yourself
Your community matters, and it's bigger than you are. When you vote, you reach beyond your own selfish interests toward something we should all have in common.

If you don't vote, you let yourself down (by not expressing your will personally). You also let down your family. Don't let down your family. Don't let down your company. Don't let down your town. Don't let down your city. Don't let down your state. Don't let down your country. And above all, don't let down your planet.

Defining yourself outside your own personal view in a group is as human an act as having a kid. Part of that defining activity should be reflected in your voting habits.

The thing is, like it or not, the government affects every aspect of our lives, from schools to roads to health care to homeland security. By voting, you make your voice heard and register your opinion on how the government should operate. Don't like the current officials? Vote them out. Like how things are going? Vote to preserve the status quo.

Voting may be the ultimate way to express love for your country. But even if you don't love your country, you can still vote to change it.
5. Elected officials pay attention to people who vote
Do you feel like your opinions about matters both local and national are overlooked? The way to fix that is to vote. You will be invisible if you don't vote. The reason is simple: Politicians need voters to vote for them. So they actually pay attention to what voters want.

On the other hand, if you are a nonvoter, then your opinion will matter much less to politicians. See, your vote is currency.

I find it very interesting that today's social media-driven attention economy was somewhat beaten to the pig trough by politics 242 years ago. Your vote and your attention have similar value. Use your currencies.

Don't forget that elections actually have consequences. If only people who don't think like you vote, and you don't vote, then your opinions will be drowned out by ballot box results. Don't let the tail wag the dog. Vote.
6. Refusing to vote is not rebellion; it is surrender
Bad people with terrible ideas essentially get elected by good people who don't vote. Really. If you don't vote, you surrender.

The struggle for the right to vote in this country is a long and storied one-and one we should not ignore. Many people have died for the right to vote, and many votes and voting groups have been suppressed through violence.

In a pluralistic democracy, the right to vote is widely distributed. But it does not mean that you have to vote the same way any other group does. Vote for what you believe in. Democracy believes in a healthy battle of ideas. The theory is that the best ideas will win. That only works in practice if you vote.

Treat voting like a duty to express your opinion.
7. Voting really does matter
I said it before, and I will say it again: Elections have consequences. Your vote really does matter.

If you believe in democracy and civil society, voting is what you can do to preserve that.

Vote because it is the right thing to do.

As should be abundantly clear by now, my fervent hope that you should vote carries not only into my job, but also into my free time. As part of the rock 'n' roll band The Bitter Liberals , my bandmates and I feel strongly enough about this that we published a public-service announcement (in video form) based on a song from our new record. Have a watch, and pass it on.

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One puzzling phenomenon I have encountered over my many years as a cybersecurity executive is tech people who react poorly to being reminded to vote-not whom to vote for, mind you; just simply to vote. "Why vote?" they ask, usually adding something like, "My vote won't matter anyway."

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Overall, I agree with Annette and Alex, Voting definitely matters. Like what Alex said, voting is what makes the US a democracy. We vote so we can have a voice in the government. According to the pro-voting article by Sean McElwee, there are many consequences that come with not voting. Lawmakers pay attention to who is or isn't voting. They will appeal more to the places that have larger voter turnout. Also, people throughout the past have fought hard to get most Americans the right to vote (people of color, women) and not voting is disrespectful towards those people (as Annette said). But really, as "Myth of making a difference" says, if one person or even 30 people don't vote, it won't change the outcome of the election. Voting is definitely important, but if you look at it holistically, one vote won't change anything.

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I think it matters because like the “Think your votes don’t count? Then why are people suppressing it” says, why would people try so hard just to get the right to vote? I think Anet makes a really good point about how we would be wasting all those efforts if we just throw away this hard-earned right. Although your vote may no matter BY ITSELF, it will make a difference as a whole (along with other votes). The silent majority was able to make their voices heard by voting-- they made a difference by voting. There is also the matter of duty. I think it is an American citizen's responsibility to vote. Alex made a really good point about how it wouldn't be democracy if people didn't vote. If they want a democracy, it is THEIR responsibility to vote. It's kind of like how when you know it won't matter if you pick up a few pieces of trash on the road, if you choose to recycle a few pieces of recyclable items, but you still do it because it is your responsibility as a member of this earth to protect and preserve it. I just don't think it's that hard to take ONE DAY off every FOUR YEARS lining up to try to make a difference and do your job as a citizen.

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I think that voting matters, and it gives an opportunity for people to let the government know what the majority wants. However, I think that people who don't really care who runs the country don't have to feel obligated to vote. I think if you are given a right to do something, you should also be given the right to reject it. People should be responsible to vote if they are the ones complaining about the government perspective right now or want to maintain it as it is. If they voted and still didn't get what they want, I think it is fair to complain or cause action. However, if the person didn't vote but is still complaining, I think it's not really fair, because he/she didn't do their duty of voting to at least contribute to the process of election. The Mic article mentioned that "Turnout among 18- to 24-year-old voters...was 12%", which is a pretty low percentage compared to the voting turnout among 65+ voters. This means that the voices of younger generations might not be reflected well on the government, which may lead to the younger ones suffering. Therefore, if people want their voices to be heard, they should at least take the initiative to vote.

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Voting is a right and duty of the citizen. It matters because through voting we are able to bring upon change to the society. If citizens have complaints about certain policy and or the way of the society they should take part by voting. Though the "Why Vote?" article state that our voting does not really affect the outcome, but I think it actually does. If people refrain from voting because of this mindset, then the outcome will not be something the citizens wishes for. I believe that at the end of the day the US citizen share the same hope for a better future. By voting toward this mutual goal the hope will be reflected to the government. So although a single person's vote might not seem like it counts, it will count as a whole (as stated by Elka).  Voting is a civic duty and a right that should be practiced in order to reach the American goal. As stated in the article below, we need to have the mindset that our voting does count and take it seriously. Because it does count!

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Voting is a civil obligation that all citizens are responsible for. We should vote to constantly update the policies for our constantly updating society. “Reduce your carbon footprint? Not worth it. It’s just like voting.” (Jason Bell) NOT TRUE. Even if your investment takes up a tiny part of the two-billion something votes, it still makes a difference if everyone insists on voting. Like Lizzy mentioned, holistically, one vote might not matter seeing US's electoral college system. However, if voting is discouraged, then less people decides who will represent the country and what policies will be implemented. Even if you aren’t voting in a swing state, your vote is what makes your state NOT a swing state. People in power have been suppressing voting abilities of those with different values than them because they don’t want to compete to for their values to be implemented in policies. Everyone should go vote for policies or politicians that best represent their values. Every vote matters.

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The thing is, at the end of the day your vote doesn't really matter. I'm not saying that people shouldn't vote, I'm just saying that it won't really matter. If I lived in Iowa, there's no way my vote for Biden would count for anything other than the statistic of people who don't support Trump there. You don't decide who the president is. You're ultimately voting to tell "x" amount of people (electoral college votes) where their votes should go, which then boils down your vote to however many electoral college votes you have. So ya, your vote doesn't really matter in terms of changing ties and stuff. This voting expert also said a few things in a linked Vice article about voting that I thought were pretty cool.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/avaek4/voters-dont-know-anything-and-your-vote-wont-matter

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Voting, in the US, is voluntary. People can choose whether or not they want to vote. The question asks "does it matter?" Yes, to some people; no, to others. Your individual vote matters when you believe yourself to be part of a collective, a member of the nation. Your vote matters when there is policy that you'd like to see changed. Your vote doesn't matter to you if you frankly don't care about the outcome of the election. To vote or not is a personal choice: democratic participation is both a privilege and a right; we can't stop people from not voting. Nor should we, if it doesn't matter to them

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I think voting matters. I feel that voting is a chance/opportunity for people to express what they want and what they believe in. If all citizen think that their vote wouldn't matter, and just decided not to vote, then the whole election process will not function properly. Furthermore, if the election results are super close, EVERY VOTE COUNTS because this will lead to having different results. Moreover, in The Washington Post, it also talked about if people's vote does not count, then why would there need to be a Voting Rights Act?

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If you are neutral on a topic regarding the candidates for the election, I don't think that you need to feel the obligation to vote, like what Momo said; however, I think that in certain situations, one vote can matter drastically. In many different counties, the winning party only won by one vote. If everybody believed that their vote didn't matter, then many people wouldn't vote and, at the end of the day, voting is determined by the number of people that vote. However, I think that voting third party is basically useless because it's almost impossible to win since the majority of the country is split between two candidates. The third one won't really matter and I think it's taking votes away from the two main party candidates.

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I think that voting matters a lot. It is one of the opportunities for the people to have a voice in the modern society right now. Plus it is the most common way. When you think your vote doesn't matter, just know that your vote might just be the one they need to change everything. Although you don't like any of the candidates, with you just voting might make ones days or give them a whole new opportunity to change their lives.

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Voting matters. As a citizen of the country, it should be semi-mandatory to vote because it is for the sake of the people and ourselves. However, it sometimes doesn't matter as well. It doesn't matter when the state that you are in is already dominant on one side or you somehow cannot gain access. Without these two reasons, voting should be mandatory.

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As the NY Times and Mission articles convey, one vote doesn’t matter. However, voting as an action is the basis of democracy (like Alex said). Without voting, civil society wouldn’t have an effective way to communicate their interests. With voting as the means of election, the government feels inclined to appeal to the people. In this sense, voting is a way to give back to your country, by affirming certain policies and setting up other policies for improvement.
See my comment for Kristen's post for voting on a personal level.

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In the past years, there are times where elections are very one sided. A absolute landslide that one candidate wins by millions of votes. One instance of this kind of victory is during 1984 where Ronald Reagan (R) received 525 (97.6%) of the total electoral votes. Considering that the candidate only needs 270 to win, I am pretty confident that even if voted for the other candidate, you cannot do anything about it. In this case you might as well not vote to save time. But in cases like this year's election. The votes in some states are so close that the percentages are literally the same, and the winner got down to a few states and a few thousand votes. In this case if many people don't vote having the mindset that other people can win for them, that outcome of the election might change.

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I believe that people are not obligated to vote during elections. A candidate has to convince his/her potential supporters that they are willing to go through the troubles of voting to support him (or that they hate his opponent enough to go through that trouble cough, Trump, cough). If a candidate can't convince people to vote for him, he don't deserve their votes. I believe abstaining can be a way to voice your dissatisfaction with the candidates. Voting matters in that you can voice your support for a political candidate in a way that "counts." However, I believe that before voting, people should think over the cost of voting (in terms of time and other things) and how much they value that voice. The value of that voice can be measured by how strongly you agree/disagree with a candidate and how intense is the race in your states. If the cost of voting outweighs the value, it makes no sense to do so.

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I agree with everything that is said above me. I acknowledge the fact that maybe your one vote may seem like it has very little impact on the outcome. Well, that is true in some cases. However, there are still cases were the outcome is down to the few votes and in those cases, your vote really matters. In addition, according to "If anyone ever tells voting doesn't matter, show them this" article, voter turnouts matter. Politicians are more likely to respond to "interests of individuals" living in places with a higher voter turnout since those places are the places where there is actually a representation. Therefore, just your one vote matters a lot.

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Yes, voting definitely matters. I think the debate is more on how much voting really matters, but it is still an undeniable fact that it does matter. I do think that voting is a civic duty. It is a way for the citizens to express their opinions on different issues. In my opinion, voting is a way to show your support. Therefore, the more votes there are, the more support there is. You should never think that voting is someone else's business. Yea sure, other people will still vote regardless of your choice, but I don't think this is a justifiable reason. This is similar to the bystander effect. Don't always expect other people to do it! Moreover, you never know when your vote will matter, so why not just vote?

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Yes! I think it does matter. If we want change, then we have to vote. I agree with what Megan and the others said- one vote does not matter but voting as a whole makes a difference.

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One might think that it doesn't matter due to the dominant wins over each non-swing state. However, to make a win and bring an outcome, voting is necessary. Also, if you are in a swing state, your vote definitely matters. Even if you are not in a swing states, to speak up and support your voices, voting is really the only way to show it.