Sarah Stultz is the managing editor of the Tribune. Her column appears every Tuesday.

With only a few weeks remaining until the general election, I have heard many people express frustration with the election process.

With much negative news about the two major party presidential candidates, some people are questioning who they will vote for and whether their vote matters. When they don’t like either major party candidate, some have questioned who is the lesser of two evils, and others are looking into third-party candidates.

I have to say I have agreed at many times over the last few months, and as I write this, I still do not know who I will vote for — but one thing is for sure, I will vote.

When the Constitution was written, only white male property owners had the right to vote. However, over the past two centuries, other groups previously excluded from voting gained the right to do so.

Now, anyone 18 and older, male or female, who is a citizen of this country and who has not lost his or her voting rights, may cast a ballot in the election.

In 1870, with the passage of the 15th Amendment, every adult male, regardless of race, gained the right to vote, though some states tried to get around that amendment with poll taxes and literacy tests.

In 1920, with the passage of the 19th Amendment, women gained the right to vote, and in 1965, the Voting Rights Act eliminated barriers such as the literacy tests. The next year, the Supreme Court eliminated the poll tax as a qualification for voting.

In 1971, the 26th Amendment set the minimum voting age at 18.

I don’t know about you, but I take my right to vote seriously.

People in the past have petitioned for this right, and I owe it to them to take advantage of this opportunity. I also owe it to myself — and my family and my friends. 

It has always bothered me when people don’t want to get involved and then they turn around and are angry with how things turned out.

To me, it’s simple: Be a part of the solution.

In addition to the presidential race, we have many other local races of importance.

We have school board races, council, county board, state House and Senate seats and our local option sales tax, to name a few.

While I think our country has its share of problems, I still love it and want it to succeed.

I hope you do too.