by Tony Bianchini

This year’s election will prove to be a historic election for high school Juniors and Seniors throughout the country. Finally, we get to vote! Now our opinion matters! We only have one problem: many of us do not know how to vote. It’s a very confusing process for all of us who haven’t voted before. I know that, personally, I did not know how to vote until I did a good amount of research. I found that it is actually quite simple.

In Maryland you have to be eighteen before the election, which is on November 8th. See, this is not as hard as it seems! Most of you — if you have your license— have already registered to vote. The next thing that you have to do is figure out where you go to vote. For those of you already registered to vote, Maryland will send you a mock ballot when early voting starts that tells you where you will vote.

Early voting for the Primary election starts Thursday April 14th to April 21st from 10 am to 8 pm. Early voting for the General election starts Thursday October 27th to Thursday November 3rd from 8am to 8pm.

Early voting locations for Frederick County:

Frederick Senior Center, 1440 Taney Avenue, Frederick, MD 21702

Thurmont Regional Library, 76 E. Moser Road, Thurmont, MD 21788

Urbana Regional Library, 9020 Amelung Street, Frederick, MD 21704

“I bring in a mock ballot with all of my choices predetermined; that way I’m in and out in 10 seconds,” stated OHS librarian Ms. Owen. Most people go in with a plan. This is smart because the actual voting process is for more than just the President. A voter could be choosing a candidate for Congress, Senate, local government, or other government positions.

“You don’t want to be in the voting booth for 20 minutes holding up the line,” exclaimed Ms. Owen.

Ms. Owen also had another piece of advice to young voters: avoid lines. Seems obvious right? Wrong.

“You don’t want to go before work (or school for students) because all of the businessmen will be there; it’s really awful to wait in line. I advise either going early or during the day — but avoid the lunch times,” said Ms. Owen.

You see, voting isn’t that hard! In fact, if you do it right, you can be in and out in about a minute. Just make sure you pick the right time to go and have your choices preplanned. Finally, I feel that everyone should vote: it’s your right, your voice, your choice. Seeing as this year’s election is one of the more controversial elections in history, every vote counts.