WITH a few hours left before the opening of the polls for this year’s Local Government Elections (LGEs), I cannot overemphasise how important it is for everyone (once you’re eligible) to vote.

There are 596 constituencies, in 80 Local Authority Areas (LAAs) with 1,676 polling stations. Residents of each community have both a right and a responsibility to elect a representative who will work to advance the communities’ best interests.

LGEs are about promoting local governance and democracy. Fixing roads, cleaning drains and fostering community development are just some of the decisions made through local governance. It is community-based and community focused.

These elections are unlike the Regional and National elections and there are no winners or losers. There are just persons who will be tasked with representing communities on the local bodies. And better yet, the persons contesting and elected are persons from right in individual communities- people who live and share in the same space as you and who should be cognisant of the community’s needs.

This will be the first election that I will be eligible to vote in. And it feels good to finally be able to exercise my franchise in this manner. I feel excited to know that my vote has the power to select the best person(s) to work in my interest.

But among my age demographic, it is disheartening to know there are persons who are reluctant to vote because of what they deem an entrenched system of race-based politics, or because they generally have no knowledge of Local Government systems.

The time for voting along the lines of race or due to party loyalty should be long gone. I mean come on man, it’s 2018.

It is your civic responsibility and duty to vote and vote for your community’s development. I don’t believe that you can sit and complain about issues in your community if you haven’t exercised your franchise.

More importantly, this is our chance to have our voices heard.

In preparation for the polls tomorrow, I reflect on the recent U.S. Midterm elections. In my opinion, it was an election of firsts because of the sheer amount of barriers broken (First Muslim women elected to Congress, etc etc).

What I like to direct focus to is that the Democrats’ takeover of the House of Representatives was in part attributed to the massive support from the 18-24 age group.

According to information published in the Guardian: “A clear 68 percent of voters aged 18-24 chose the Democrats according to exit polls – a group that is credited with helping to boost the overall turnout figure.”

In its current state, many might deem the U.S. government as a flawed system- and I’m not going to argue for or against that, but I will concede that every government inherently has its flaws. What’s important is the U.S., in my opinion, sets the benchmark for what a democracy should aspire to be and now, it has shown just how much power the people have in enforcing democracy.

Over the past few weeks, and months even, parties and candidates would have campaigned to try and garner the support of voters. And, crucial to anyone’s success- I believe- will be the ability to garner the votes of young persons, like myself. Of course, the larger parties understand this and would have included this in their campaigns.

But through diligence and actually scrutinising candidates, would lead you to understand what they stand for. Those that have caught my eyes, ears and mind are all of those who seek to use their voices to amplify the voices of others-those who seem as though they will use whatever position they are placed in to effect some sort of positive change in society.

Party loyalty is one thing, and I have no qualms with that if you truly believe that the party candidates will act in the best interest of the community. But if you are blindly supporting without scrutinising what the candidates stand for, I cannot understand that.

Now tomorrow, bright and early-starting from 06:00 hours- we each have the chance to go play our part in enforcing our democracy. I cannot emphasise how important it is to vote for policies and not personalities nor parties. Go out and vote!