November 8th marked my first action as a registered voter. Being a first time voter, the dread I’ve felt up until the 8th was immense. Would I accidently vote for the opposing candidate? Would I forget to submit my vote? When the topic of this election surfaced butterflies would enter my stomach time after time. On top of being wracked with nerves because of my inexperience in voting, I had the pressure of casting my first votes at the height of one of the most contentious Presidential Elections the United States has ever witnessed.

Still, it is my civic duty and so I arrived at my voting destination around 12:30PM. Before passing through the entrance, I was handed papers which had information about the numerous candidates. The line I stood in was fairly short and I reached the front of the line in under five minutes. After showing identification, I was faced with the intimidating ballot board that would soon take my vote. Passing through the red curtains, I finally faced the abundance of candidates. My task was now to vote for whom I wanted.

After successfully casting my vote a sense of accomplishment washed over me. Being able to cast my vote felt like I participated in government. In this case person’s voice can be heard through the “cast vote” button and a mechanical tone to signify that another vote has been cast.

According to Civicyouth.org, “Young voters aged 18-29 cast 19% of all votes in the 2016 presidential election.” On November 8^th I was part of that 19%.  Of that 19%, presidential candidate Hillary Clinton acquired 55% of the youth vote according to state exit polls (civicyouth.org), while President Elect Donald Trump earned 37% of votes in those aged 18-29. Despite, most youth votes being cast for the defeated Hillary Clinton, they caused some close calls in a number of states and exercised their civic responsibility this election.