Voting is one of the most important rights we have as American citizens. It guarantees we have a say in who represents us at all levels of government.

Yet, low voting totals plague this country in all elections. Nationwide about 58 percent of voting-aged citizens cast a ballot in last year’s presidential election, which remains a heated topic on social media websites even today. As many opinions as people had on it, still less than six out of every 10 people cared enough to vote.

Of course, the presidential election always brings out more voters, just because of the interest it draws. Without a huge national race on the ballot Tuesday night, we anticipated voting numbers would be low.

However, we must admit we are disappointed in how few voters actually went to the polls in Troup County last night. Less than 20 percent of people in Troup County voted. We’d understand it more if voting was only one day, but there were weeks of early voting available before Tuesday night’s election.

Unlike a presidential election, Tuesday’s elections do directly impact local citizens every day. Mayors were re-elected in Hogansville, West Point and LaGrange. City council members were elected, some for another term and others for their first term.

These are the people that make decisions every day in Troup County.

Yet, only one in five people took the few minutes required to cast a vote.

We hope that next election season, more people will take advantage of the opportunity to vote.