As an instructor, I told the students in class today that I wanted them to vote tomorrow. I told them that I didn’t care who they voted for (because that’s not my job as their instructor), but that I wanted them to exercise the privilege of voting. I actually got some applause from some of the students for saying that. I also got some cheers.

They are smart people, those students.

I do care who wins, of course. But it’s not my job as an instructor to influence students who take my class to vote one way or the other. It is my job to encourage them to be good citizens.

My job as a good blogger, a good online friend, is to encourage those of you who are U.S. citizens and registered to vote to do so. So get out there. Stand in that long line, make your voice heard. It matters. Don’t think it doesn’t. Too many recent elections have been lost because people have forgotten how much their voice matters.

Vote. Please. It’s not a privilege everyone has and we’re fortunate to have it.