Last year, I got to vote in my home district for the first time since 1994. I was excited to actually be able to walk into a voting booth and KNOW that my vote counted. For the past 17 years, I’ve been voting absentee. I never miss an election regardless of where I am in the world. NEVER!

I’ve heard many troops say that it’s useless to vote absentee because they don’t count. To be honest, that’s been a frustration of mine as well. After all, unless the number of ballots exceeds the difference between winning and losing candidate, what’s the point?

First of all, I have yet to see a ballot with just one candidate or issue on is. For example, I just got my Bell County ballot for local Texas issues. There were about seven or eight separate issues on the ballot.

The ballots for national elections are no different. Not only do they contain the names of presidential candidates, but also candidates for state and local offices. So, if you refuse to vote because you don’t think your vote for president will count, then you’ve also given up your voice on every other issue.

Look at it this way – what if ever Soldier with that attitude actually voted? There’s only one way of ensuring that our votes count and that is to vote. The more troops that vote, the smaller that margin becomes between the number of absentee ballots and the difference between winning candidates and/or issues.

The primaries are upon us, so request your ballot ASAP! It’s really easy. Just go to the Federal Voting Assistance Program website and click the appropriate button for your status, civilian or military. On the next page, click your state of residence where you are registered to vote and request your absentee ballot through the provided links. If you’re not registered to vote, you can also register at this site. Most states will accept scanned or faxed registrations from military personnel.

If you, as a Soldier, don’t think that your voice counts, think again. If you don’t think that politics has any place in the military, think again. It’s politics that will keep us in or remove us from Afghanistan. It’s politics that got us into just about every war our nation has ever face. We are the ones that will fight and possibly die for political decisions made for us. If we don’t pick representatives that have our nation’s and military members’ best interests at heart, we die needlessly. In the end, we have no say where we are sent, but we can at least have a say in who makes those decisions.

Vote! Your life literally depends on it.