I like to think of elections as America changing the sheets. The midterm elections might not seem so important in your mind, but trust me — it’s been two years since those sheets have been changed. All that eyeball gunk and dead skin matter has built up. If we all don’t take part in changing the sheets and flip that mattress over, congress is going to start to smell a little rank.

National Voter turnout among registered voters has been in a consecutive decline according to the United States Elections Project. In fact, on average, 55-75% of registered voters do not vote. The reason is that many citizens feel that their vote doesn’t count — but I can assure you that it does.

Consider the numbers wherein, according to the United States Census Bureau, there are 222,307,803 people of voting age in this country this year. That means that your vote is worth about .00000004498%. I challenge anybody out there to find a mathematician that will tell you that .00000004498 is less than or equal to zero.

Granted, this may not sound like much, but as the last two presidential elections have proved, the nation is currently split evenly, causing President George W. Bush to win by the width of a hair both times. And recent polls show that the nation is split right down the middle between Republican and Democrat once again. All of the sudden, that fraction of a percent seems like it can make a difference.

I don’t care if you’re Republican or Democrat or Green or Whig or Anti-Federalist. Your vote does matter. The deadline to register in California is Oct. 23. People, I simply cannot stress this enough — do not listen to the ads on TV. Just do what I do and cover your ears while singing “It’s Raining Men” really loud until the commercial is over.

Voter information booklets are mailed far in advance, containing arguments and even the actual proposition text. Don’t like the mail? Get on the web and read the candidate statements and propositions yourself. Do as much research as possible and make your own decision. That’s the point of a democracy.

To register to vote go to: http://www.ss.ca.gov/elections/elections_vr.htm