In July of 1971,  Congress passed the 26th amendment, which lowered the voting age to 18 years old. During this election cycle, the ‘Millennials’, for the first time, will likely outnumber the ‘Baby Boomers’.

I am one of those Millennials. 

In the past elections, the Baby Boomers made up the majority of the voting population. Now, according to NPR, Millennials make up almost 31 percent of the voting population. For the past year, any time you turned on the TV or drove down the road, you were bound to see some form of political sign or commercial. It felt like you could not go 20 minutes without being told why Donald Trump is a terrible person or why you should not give Hillary Clinton your vote.  During this memorable (or should I say crazy) election, a good number of seniors that attend Windsor High School were able to exercise their constitutional right and go out and vote.  To those who were eligible to vote, it may have been an exciting and scary experience.

Since I just turned 18 on Sunday, I was excited to vote. When I got to my polling place, I felt butterflies in my stomach, and I had not even received my ballot yet! I stood in line in a gymnasium at Seckman Middle School, and waited for the election workers to call me up to the registration table. I got to the table and it hit me like a wall.

I am an adult.

I am about to put my name on history.

When I got in the booth that I was going to fill out my ballot in, I took the  “special election marker,” which I could likely pick up at my local Walgreens and began filling out my ballot. I remembered back to Monday night when I was researching all these different amendments and candidates. When I filled out my ballot, I felt like I was excited to be able to take part in this unique and exciting process that we call voting.

I look forward to exercising my right as an American citizen in the future elections. It is a neat opportunity we have here in the United States, one that we are able to help mold and choose who is going to run our government.