The 2018 primary is approaching. But if you forgot to register to vote, you should know the deadline has already passed, for this election anyway.

According to Mississippi law, all first-time voters must register to vote at least 30 days before an election.

However, once you have been registered, there is no reason to register again unless you move to a new county or state.

At times, I can be a forgetful person. Unfortunately, one of the things I keep putting off is registering to vote. I do my best to stay informed about what is going on and often get drawn into the political occurrences across the nation.

Despite this, every time an election comes up, I still fail to remember to register until deadline has already passed.

Once that happens, I get discouraged, and put off registering even longer until the cycle repeats itself.

Voting is at the core of our nation’s government. It is necessary if the interests of its citizens will be represented. In Mississippi, there are two ways to register to vote – by going to the Circuit Clerk’s office or Municipal Clerk’s office. Alternately you can mail in an application. Neither of these things takes a great deal of time or effort.

The majority of my friends and family my age have not registered to vote. Unfortunately, this behavior represents a trend among youth who are eligible to vote.According to an article by the Pew Research Center, next year Millennials are expected to become the largest living generation of adults.

This group of people represents approximately 62 million voting-age adults in the United States.

At the same time, however, only about 50 percent of Millennials who are eligible to vote actually do so, the article states. For the United States to continue to be the country it is, younger generations need to register. The primary election’s registration deadline may have already passed, but there is still time to register for the general election in November. So this time, I will be sure to register before another deadline passes me by.