I can still remember my parents taking me to the polls as a kid. As I looked around the gymnasium or cafeteria turned polling place, I remember being curious about the school, and the makeshift voting booths seemed so formal then. It felt very official with grownups standing in a line to take their turn inside the mysterious voting compartments outfitted with short curtains for privacy.

My parents were immigrants with few American years under their belts. Between full-time factory work, tending to home and garden, cooking meals from scratch, and prepping us kids for school, bed, or other activity, mom and dad made time to participate in the most important task of a citizen: voting.

They understood the value of fair, free elections; an election where you can place a ballot for your candidate without fear or intimidation; a process that allows all citizens to place votes of equal value regardless of political or economic status.

Women in the United States did not gain the constitutional right to vote until 1920, less than a century ago. There are people still alive today that witnessed it. The suffragettes understood that the vote was the legal voice necessary to improve their lives and strengthen the American society. In the nearly century since the 19th amendment, there has been significant progress in women’s rights, including access to the birth control pill for family planning, access to credit accounts for financial independence, protections against discrimination in the workplace, and marital rights not previously afforded them.

Nate Silver’s blog, FiveThirtyEight, recently posted electoral maps of what the election might look like if women were not allowed to vote, and conversely, if men were not allowed to vote.

Of course, if the electoral franchise were really restricted only to men, our politics would look a lot different. And if it were restricted only to women, they’d look really, really different, perhaps with entirely different coalitions than the ones that prevail now. But it seems fair to say that, if Trump loses the election, it will be because women voted against him.

The circus-like spectacle media madness of this election season has left many feeling appalled and exhausted. But perhaps worst of all, it has left many feeling disillusioned, unengaged, and even apathetic.

Regardless of your political leanings or party affiliations, please, please, please participate in the process Americans call so dear: Democracy.

Please VOTE Tuesday, November 8th. ­­­­­­