Get ready to vote for the next U.S. president

The Democratic National Convention ended in Philadelphia last week, one week after the Republican National Convention ended in Cleveland, Ohio.

Now, the two divisive candidates — Hillary Clinton for the Democrats and Donald Trump for the Republicans — head toward the final stretch in the race to be our next president.

The general election will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 8, a little more than three months from now. And in those three months, not only are we, the American public, about to be educated about each candidate’s positions and why we should elect him or her, but we’re also about to be bombarded — even more than we already have been — with ugly, political rhetoric through advertising.

Some of these television ads have already begun, and already, they aren’t very upstanding.

This is going to be an ugly few months.

For those of us who are more interested in the issues, or who at least hope the issues will come to the forefront of the campaigns, presidential debates will be held on Monday, Sept. 26 at Hofstra University in New York; Sunday, Oct. 9 at Washington University in St. Louis; and Wednesday, Oct. 19 at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

The vice presidential debate will be held on Tuesday, Oct. 4 at Longwood University in Farmwood, Va.

Whoever you like more — whether it be Clinton, Trump or another candidate such as Gary Johnson — make sure you cross off Nov. 8 as a day you have an appointment to vote.

Voting is one of the most sacred of rights that we have as Americans, so if you’re eligible to vote, you should head to the polls without reservation. You only have one chance every four years to help choose who the leader of our country will be. Decide to stay on the sidelines, and you’ll have passed on the opportunity to participate in U.S. politics.

Nowadays, as politicians have seemed to become more separated from their constituents, voting is the one last way we can exercise our right to participate.