Today is Election Day. The day that hundreds of candidates throughout the borough work so hard for. For months, candidates spend time, money, blood, sweat and tears to meet and greet all of us in an attempt to get us to pull the lever in their favor. Election Day is a very important day in the life of a candidate – but it should also be a very important day in the lives of you and me.

Although I am not running for any elected seat, I am going to do a little bit of campaigning for your vote, not for a particular candidate, just for your vote in general. Voting is one of our privileges in this country as American citizens; it is something that we have the right to do, yet hardly of us do it. Why? Voting is a simple, once-a-year task that can shape the future of this country, yet hardly anyone votes. I hear people constantly say that this country’s government is in horrible shape and that they wish they could do something about it – they can – you can – by voting.

No matter where you live in Brooklyn – from Fort Greene to Flatbush, from Bay Ridge to Bushwick, or from Coney Island to Canarsie, we all have the same thing: a councilman, a senator, an assemblyman and a congressman. In addition, we each have a borough president, public advocate, city comptroller and a mayor. Like them or not, they work for us. If this city were a corporation, we are the bosses of this corporation. We can hire – and fire – these workers. We pay them their salary (via taxes) and they are supposed to do what we tell them to do in the form of suggestions, letters and meetings. If you owned a corporation, would you like someone else to hire and fire your workers, I don’t think so, so why not exercise your right to hire and fire those who work for you in city government?

In total, voting takes maybe twenty minutes, that’s one-third of your lunch hour or a little extra time before or after work, but you know what, that twenty minutes is worth four years in each elected post you vote for, so take the time and vote.

If you don’t know if you are a registered voter, or if you don’t know where to vote, call (212) VOTE-NYC and find out. So whomever you vote for this Election Day, remember one thing – each vote is a vote for yourself and your future – see you at the polls.