We ARE the X Factor.

You might be sick of everybody telling you to vote. Everybody's got some cute "go vote" slogan.

Get Out the Vote.

Vote or Die.

Votie Votie Vote Vote.

I don’t care if you're sick of it. The election is a week away. And it is so important to vote that I can’t even express it.

I don’t even care who you vote for. You probably know my political beliefs. I think the outcome of the election is hugely important. But this is bigger than that.

Think about this: people under age 30 made up only 15% of voters in the last election. That's a new low. That’s disgraceful. WE’RE disgraceful.

Young people always complain that nobody listens to us and nobody pays attention to what we want and what’s important to us. But the only way to change that is to vote.

It is very simple. Voters are important to politicians. People who do not vote are not.

You voting makes politicians take that much more notice of you and of people our age in general.

Whatever you stand for – gay rights, the right to choose, the legalization of pot, drug reimportation, immigration, prayer in school, the right of Arnold Schwarzenegger to run for President, Puerto Rican statehood – STAND for it, just by voting next week.

And maybe you don’t have any particularly strong beliefs right now. So you don't think you need to bother taking the extra 20 minutes to go vote. But what if an issue comes up that you DO care about? What if you care about it so badly that it makes your head spin when you see somebody else making a decision on it that will affect you?

You need to matter. You need to make yourself matter.

VOTE.

It’s ridiculously easy, and it’s so fucking important.