Every four years, near the midpoint of a president’s four-year term, United States citizens vote during the midterm elections for who they want to represent them in Congress, as their governor and in local offices such as their mayor or on school boards.

Midterm elections determine which political party will control each chamber of Congress for the next two years.

According to USA.gov, the midterm election voters choose one third of senators, all members of the House of Representatives and many state and local positions. Members of the House of Representatives serve two-year terms and will be up for election during the presidential election year.

“I believe everyone’s vote makes a difference,” said Aviation Machinist’s Mate Airman Cory Ryder, a George Washington Sailor who voted in the midterm election. “People will win elections by only hundreds of votes. With how little people can win by, you have the opportunity to make a difference.”

According to electproject.org, during the 2014 midterm elections, only around 36.7 percent of eligible voters cast their ballot during the election. However, according to early estimates from electproject.org, voter turnout this year increased to 48.1 percent, the highest voter turnout since 1966 when it was 49 percent. An estimated 113 million Americans were predicted to have voted in this year’s midterm elections.

“It’s for you, it’s for your kids, it helps shape the country,” said Ryder. “It could be personal beliefs you hold or for whatever reason you want to vote. It’s a privilege to be able to vote and I know those of us in the military fight for that right, so we should exercise it.”

Under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, any Sailor and their family can submit an absentee ballot. Sailors and their families, if they so choose, can register to vote in the state of the Sailor’s permanent change of station (PCS) orders, or they can vote absentee in the state of their home of record or any other location where they have lived and maintain a legal residency. For information on how to request and submit an absentee ballot, visit FVAP.gov.

“It’s a right that all Americans have that we should exercise,” said Lt. Robert Walsh, George Washington’s voting assistance officer. “Not everyone around the world has the right to have their voice heard. It’s what our forefathers fought for; it’s one of the inalienable rights that we all have thanks to them.”

Control of the House of Representatives has shifted to the democrats following the 2018 midterm elections. Republicans strengthened their hold in the Senate. Of the 36 seats for governor in the gubernatorial election, democrats gained seven seats and republicans lost six seats for a total of 23 democratic governors and 26 republican governors with one governor yet to be decided in Georgia (as of the writing of this article). For information on which states flipped and which states stayed the same, visit balletpedia.org.

Every U.S. citizen above the age of 18 has the right to vote and each person can make a difference by casting their vote during both midterm and primary elections.

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