My first voting memory is 1976.
My mom picked me up from school, and instead of walking home, we headed across the field to my older brother's school to vote. She said she was voting for Jimmy Carter for president and showed me a campaign brochure with a photo of his family, which included a girl not much older than me.
We walked into that Connecticut voting booth -- complete with the blue curtains that you used to see in movies -- and she cast her ballot.
When my girls were younger and I was working nights, we would walk over to our polling place in mid-morning or mid-afternoon to vote. I hope that one of our walks makes a lasting impression on the importance of voting for my daughters.
I registered to vote the same week I turned 18. It was a presidential election year, and I can remember having to contact the Creek County Election Board to get an absentee ballot sent to me in California where I was attending college. When I was done with my ballot, I headed over to the administration building to find someone to notarize it.
Voting is the right and responsibility of citizens in our representative democracy. For many people in the United States, winning the right to vote was a long, hard-fought battle, and it shouldn't be taken for granted.
Read a Voting Rights Timeline that details the struggles of people of color and women to earn the right to vote. PBS.org has a great page for kids on Elections 101, including why voting matters. (The Learn More section is a little old -- it hasn't been updated since 2008.)
At many schools in and around Tulsa tomorrow, students will get to cast their ballot for president. Four years ago my daughters split their votes -- one voted for Barack Obama and the other for John McCain, or as she called him "the guy with the woman running for vice president."
But voting is not just about the presidential election. As most adults know, local, state and congressional races are also on the ballot, as well as tax propositions and state questions.
Being an informed voter means understanding who is running and what their positions are and getting educated on the effect of "yes" or "no" votes on ballot issues. In short, it's a lot more complicated than voting for Barack Obama or Mitt Romney.
But sticking your toe in the water is one way to get interested.
As 13-year-old Jada Holliday told a Tulsa World reporter during a recent mock election at Broken Arrow's Sequoyah Middle School: "At first, I thought politics was boring. I only watched the first presidential debate for extra credit. Then I just couldn't stop watching them."
I hope her interest lasts a lifetime.
Do you still need help sorting out who is running or what the state questions are?
Find that information on our election page.
