In the election booths this November 8 there is only one feasible option: cry.

This election cycle has been—How do I put it?—completely and utterly insane. Filled with scandals, insults, and some moments that require a double-take, the past year has felt more like a Celebrity Apprentice spin off than an actual election for the leader of the free world.

November 8, the day that will be denoted as the beginning of the end, is actually my birthday. Getting to watch the world burn is not quite the present I expected in my 18th year. Despite my overall lack of enthusiasm and generally underwhelmed feelings toward this election, I do still plan to vote.

And you should too.

Why, you may ask, would I go vote for the lesser of two evils? The answer to that is in the question itself. It’s the lesser evil. Democracy only works if 1. people are informed and 2. people actually go vote.

Not liking either of the candidates is not a valid reason to stay home. If you aren’t sure about the policies (which is likely due to the debates being “I-know-you-are-but-what-am-I” matches instead of talks on substantive issues) go to isidewith.com or another bi-partisan website, which will give you an in-depth questionnaire to help you choose a candidate.

I would also like to say, to my fellow first-time voters, that under no circumstances should you vote solely based on your parents’ political affiliation. You can’t say you agree with your parents on everything, so make your own decisions on who you want to be president.

Being a Democrat, Republican, or independent is a decision you should make based on intricate and philosophical thoughts from your point of view, not on the thoughts of the people who yell at you to get off the internet at 1 o’clock in the morning.

Also, having voted means you can complain with integrity. If you don’t vote and then spend the next four years complaining about Trump’s wall or Clinton’s health care program you sound like a spoiled child. Don’t complain about something you didn’t try to change.

Democracy literally means “people power,” and if you don’t use that power given to you by veterans and suffragettes and those in the Civil Rights movement, you’re throwing away one of the things that is so great about living in America.

So on November 8, allow yourself to sleep in, make yourself some pancakes, and even though you have the day off, drive into Main Lot and go vote.