Be loud. Get involved. Make a difference.

I will be honest with you. Up until this year, I had never been extremely involved in political campaigns. Even though I always believed that exercising your right to vote is part of your civic duty as a citizen of the United States (I have never missed an election), I had never volunteered my time to campaign for (or against) a political candidate or ballot initiative.

It isn’t as if I did not care about the results of an election, I had just never found a political cause that I was passionate about supporting, or fighting, for that matter. If I were going to actively campaign during an election year, it was going to take a very special topic to get me involved.

That all changed with Initiative 26.

To be honest, I had no idea that Initiative 26 even existed until I came back to Ole Miss this August. Spending my summer in D.C. had disconnected me from Mississippi politics altogether, and the last thing on my mind as I moved back to Oxford was the Nov. 8 election.

I first learned about the initiative through a friend and got more details at meetings of the UM Feminist Majority. But it was after attending an informational meeting with representatives from Mississippians for Healthy Families — one of the most active organizations on the “No on 26” movement — that I decided to get involved.

Still early for actual “campaigning,” there was no doubt in my mind what would be my first action. Like any good columnist, I opened a Word document and began to write.

I had a lot of students on campus approach me after my column ran in The DM. Most gave me positive feedback and a few critiques, but even more wanted to tell me that they had no idea Initiative 26 even existed. And if they did, they had assumed that it was a simple pro-life vs. pro-choice vote; they had no idea the implications it posed to reproductive rights and health care. 

I know some people believe that as an out-of-state student I have no business getting involved in a Mississippi state election. But here is my rebuttal. I spend nine out of the 12 months of the year at Ole Miss, and what happens here in Oxford and the state affects me more than anything does back home in St. Louis. 

Too few young adults know that even if they are out-of-state, as a university student, they can legally switch their voting registration to Oxford. I did, and I will be voting in the state of Mississippi for the first time this year.

Being involved in the election has taught me something that I already knew to be true but failed to explore before: There is so much more to the political process than simply casting your ballot. By taking a personal interest in a candidate or initiative and devoting your time to campaigning, you are doing so much more than simply standing up for what you believe in. Every effort — no matter how small — makes a difference, especially in an off-year like 2011.

As the 2012 presidential election draws nearer, I encourage everyone to follow the process and to get involved. Every time we have an election, the results have the possibility to change our lives. After being active this year, I know I won’t be able to sit quietly again. 

I would rather fight for what I believe in and lose in the end than sit back quietly and do nothing, because I know that every small effort counts.

Lexi Thoman is junior international studies and Spanish double-major from St. Louis, Mo.