As I walked through the door into the voting center, I felt an immense amount of pride and patriotism. The voting center worker summoned me over and said, “Is this your first time voting”? I replied, “Yes.” Right then, I felt nerves rush down my body. At that moment, I felt like the whole state of Texas was on my shoulders, like they were counting on me. I gave the voting volunteer my driver’s license, and he proceeded to hand me two pieces of paper to put into the voting machine. Then he said, “You are now a registered voter.”

He guided me to a specific machine, and I began voting. There were so many names on the ballot that I became overwhelmed. I didn’t want to mess up my first time voting. I took a deep breath and continued. Once I finished I sighed with much relief. The process took me about ten minutes max. The voting volunteer realized I was finished and said, “Congratulations for voting for the first time!” Then, he went ahead and grabbed an “I Voted” sticker and handed it to me. I proudly put on that sticker; and confidently walked out the door feeling like a true American.

As soon as I finished, I finally realized why voting is so important. We Americans are voting for our next leaders. We Americans are voting for what we believe is right. We Americans are voting for our livelihoods. I also realized how blessed we are as a country. Freedom should never be taken for granted. America is without a doubt the greatest country in the world.