Register. To. Vote.

I'm going to assume that the vast majority of my friends are already registered, but rather than leave it to chance, here's my reminder.

This is important not just because of the presidential race. That IS important, because the US is such a dominating global force, the person we vote in is arguably the most powerful person on the planet, with the ability to affect the lives of more than six billion people. However, less than 300 million have a say.

But moreso, register for your state and local elections. Those are the people who will make the changes that affect you most directly, and they're often completely overshadowed by the media and money of the presidential race.

You can find a list of registration deadlines here. Note that for a number of states, the deadline is this weekend.

Also note that a number of states have early voting, which you can do right now. You may find a list of those that have this here.

Or don't.