I am writing this Scarleteen blog entry after having read Heather's piece after I returned home from my local polling place. Heather, I thank you for sharing your thoughts and reasons for voting the way you did this year; this blog entry was inspired in large part by your post. I find myself holding many similar sentiments to the ones you expressed here so well.

I know it's a bit late in the game for those with early voting, but I just wanted to write a letter about voting this year. I do this every election for my friends and family, though I often write it more for those in the concentric circles around the people I know than for those closest to me. I often see or represent some groups plenty of people don't have a familiarity with or a real awareness of.

You may have recently seen an email floating around called "Why Women Should Vote" summarizing some of the struggles of suffragists who won us that right.

It is a good account, an important account, and I'd implore you to take a look at it if you haven't already.

Remember, it was not until 1920 that women were granted the right to go to the polls and vote.

The Feminist Majority Foundation's Get Out Her Vote campaign outlines some of this election's central issues. What's your vote this year going to influence?

The 2008 election will decide who controls the White House, Congress and many state legislatures across the country. Those elected will be making decisions that could change your lives. Also, keep an eye out for special initiatives and referendums that may be on your state's ballot.

Reproductive Rights

Newsflash: I'm white. Who cares, right?

Well, I do. Because one thing that means with the work I do is that I hear it, see it, compile it, write it all through the lens of a white person. I can be as mindful, sensitive and careful as I want, but that still doesn't change that.

Attention Scarleteen Readers 18+ and eligible to vote in the US: Election Day is Tuesday, November 6. If it is an election year for your jurisdiction, please head out to the polls on Tuesday to cast your ballot. It's a quick-and-easy way to make a difference, as well as a right and responsibility of being a citizen. The right to choose and access to accurate, inclusive sex education are two major issues that Scarleteen is all about.