By Ebony Belser

I’m sure we’ve all heard it before: “Voting is very important, ” or, “Stretch your right to vote.” Many of us are tired of hearing the same thing every year, but we must understand that voting is just as important as having the right to vote.

Citizens are truly the ones making decisions in the world. We aren’t all Trumps, Obamas or even Schaafs, but the importance of having the right to vote and being a voter is vital as to who gets to be in charge of us and the world.

Voting isn’t just about picking the next president, but picking the next senator, Secretary of State, district supervisor… the list goes on.

Many chairs must be filled in order to run the world. Having the right to pick who may or may not fill those chairs is the key to how we, as citizens, have privilege to even more rights and opportunities, or lack thereof.

Voting plays a big part in our communities and environments as well. Things like rent control, better highways, and health care fall under the decisions we make as voters.

We bicker and complain about how things aren’t the way we want them, but the question is, did we vote for whatever it is that we complain about? Every year we are given several measures and propositions to vote for or against to either improve things in our communities and environments, or leave them the same.

For instance, we have Proposition A, which aims to repair San Francisco’s sea wall. This is a very important measure, seeing that the sea wall is years beyond years old. This sea wall is connected to evacuation routes as well as being located above our public transportation BART line.

If we don’t vote for this proposition the sea wall may not be fixed, and this puts those that travel back and forth over the Bay Bridge in danger. If there were a natural disaster, many busy and popular parts of San Francisco would be flooded, BART stations could become flooded, and complications with escape routes to evacuate the city could become chaotic.

We have more power than we know, being legal voters, and we should consider the importance of our citizenship. Our world lies in our hands, and it’s up to us to be the change we want to see.