Ladies and gentlemen, today is the day we’ve been waiting for.

It’s time to make history.

Bush and Kerry are neck-and- neck and it could be any man’s game. This is perhaps the most passionate and controversial election since Richard Nixon took the helm.

And the local ring is not to be slighted either. This is the first time in 12 years Utah’s gubernatorial election is in the air, as neither candidate is an incumbent.

The Salt Lake County race has been in the headlines for months, and the 2nd Congressional District has had more mud than the field between Milton-Bennion and HPER West.

And voters are rising to the occasion.

This is a historic year for the number of Utahns registered to vote, especially in the college-age bracket. Approximately 6,000 students registered at tables here on campus.

Let’s get out there and break records!

With the presidential race being so close, many are predicting younger voters to be the surprise factor in turning the election.

There’s no reason why that shouldn’t be true of Utah. Our population has one of the highest percentages of young people. Why can’t the college demographic swing the vote here? Who knows, we might even shatter some stereotypes.

No excuses are suitable for missing out on this most exciting day of the year.

Not only is today an opportunity that only comes along once every four years (like being an Olympic athlete), but we also may very well set the tone for the entire 21st century.

Skip a class if you have to. Go ahead and walk those 10 miles uphill both ways in the snow without shoes and a little brother on your back to that voting booth (your grandparents apparently did it every day, you can do it for one).

And expect your neighbors to be doing the same. Let’s go out there and live the dreams of everyone who gave their lives so we could walk into that little booth and check a name.

There’s no way to know for certain what tomorrow or the next four years will hold. Some things are out of our control.

But one thing left entirely up to us is the ability to wear that little white sticker that says, “I voted.”