With midterm elections just around the corner, an unprecedented amount of pressure is put on various political parties to make sure their candidates are the right ones for the job, all the while pointing out flaws of other candidates.

One must ask, with all the strife around voting, how did it get like this? Let’s turn back the clock and see how these voting rights swelled up to be a big problem for the nation.

Let’s start by briefly describing what voting rights looked like during the time of the British American colonies. As the British were trying to reel in the loss of funds after they won the French and Indian War, taxes increased for stamps, tea and sugar leaves. British soldiers were also given the right to invade and live in people’s homes.

As a result, the American colonists, in stiff defiance, cried and shouted, “No Taxation Without Representation.” What they said was if the American colonists wanted all these things, the American people should be given a fighting chance in parliament. Both sides refused to compromise and the rest is history.

Fast forward to America’s young years after the Articles of Confederation proved to be flimsy and corruptible. This failure turned out to be a formula for success and, in turn, gave rise to the basic concept of American voting rights.  There were limits, however, as only white Christian male landowners could decide who to vote for in state elections.

During the early parts of the 19th century, the barriers started to recede as the property requirement rescinded. During the Reconstruction Era, the 15th Amendment passed, refusing some people the right to vote because of their race. This was ratified but people in the south used poll taxes and literacy tests to continue the divide.

Even though women could vote in some states during the first half of the 20th century, voting rights for women were not made a national amendment until 1920. But a storm was brewing down south during the 1960s when voting barriers reached a climax in March 1965. Activists marched from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, bringing African-American voting rights to a head. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 gave African-Americans the right to vote.

Many other events have happened since then with voting not only becoming more accessible to those who speak another language but to those with disabilities, as well, but for now…

Allow Me to Change Your Mind

Many feel pressured to vote, even though they may not like the candidates being paraded around like the next American or state savior. Campaigns boil down to who can come up with better insults, showing one candidate in a positive light and the other as a crazy person with only his or her own interests at heart.

Politics will always be like this because politicians are the only ones who can come this far and are the ones who suck up to others the most.

So, this begs the question: is it worth voting for one person you might not like?

Even if it feels like it does not matter, history has documented that even a president has been decided by just one vote when Republican candidate Rutherford B. Hayes was declared the winner with a one-vote difference, defeating his Democratic competitor Samuel Jones Tilden.

By casting a vote, you have a voice in the future of the country (and, on a smaller scale, state or city) because even one vote can make a difference.