Opinion | Get out and vote, California

Imagine: it’s eighth grade. Sixth period, for some, may be the worst part of the day: social studies.

As you sit in your desk, your enthusiastic teacher is going off on the most important thing you could learn in public education system – civic engagement. As your teacher touts that “freedom isn’t free,” the act of voting is memorialized in your sleepy brain forever.

By now, you get it. It’s not nearly as glamorous as your middle school teacher promised it would be and most of the time, caring about politics feels pointless.

While I’ll never forget my sweet Mr. Burns, I’m not here to give you middle school flashbacks. I’m just here as a fellow 20-something who feels burnt out by the drama.

I’ve lost track of how many Californians have told me that voting feels dumb, because growing up in the mecca of liberal values, the state is going to go Democrat no matter what. And I get it. How could your voice feel loud enough to make any difference in such an ideologically rigid state?

I could tell you that local elections, which are far from solidly blue, will probably impact your life more than President Donald J. Trump or Senator Bernie Sanders, but as true as that has always been, I doubt that point intrigues you. Luckily, I have some evidence to report that might change your mind about voting. This year, for the first time in a few elections, California gets to vote in their primary presidential election March 3, right at the top of the election calendar.

In the last two rounds of primary election voting, California was at the end of the calendar. Iowa and New Hampshire went first in February, followed by other states in March, April and May. California got to tag along in June. By then, there was less room to have a say in which candidate received momentum. As a powerful, liberal state, I’m going to go out on a limb and say that California deserves better.

This year, California voters will finally have a powerful voice in the Democratic primary. We’re voting March 3, with 415 delegates up for grabs – more than any other state.

And this primary election is far from over. You could listen to political pundits tout that “X candidate has it in the bag,” but you could also tune out the drama and vote any way you want.

This all means that your social studies teacher is right this time. It took a few years, but finally: if you’re a Californian voting in the Democratic primary, your time has come to truly make a difference.

“Civic engagement” is a theoretical concept that can make us feel hopeless, but if you don’t vote, your voice will be washed away. Check your voter registration by going to registertovote.ca.gov and I swear, you’ll feel just as glamorous as Mr. Burns promised.