"Let each citizen remember at the moment he is offering his vote that he is not making a present or a compliment to please an individual - or at least that he ought not so to do; but that he is executing one of the most solemn trusts in human society for which he is accountable to God and his country."

Samuel Adams, one of the founding fathers of our country offered that quote when our nation was young. He believed it to be one of the core tenets of the new United States: that it was the sacred duty of the people to vote.

On a more local level, Irene R. Smith wrote a letter to us that we ran on Sunday. In a handful of words, she encouraged Newton County residents to go to the polls and vote come Election Day.

Election Day is Nov. 8, and early voting is currently underway. If you have not voted yet in the races in which you are eligible to cast a vote, send your ballot now or make plans to visit your polling place in the near future.

The results of these elections are in the hands of the people - your hands. Don't rely on other people, believing an election is a foregone conclusion. Your vote does matter, and you can't rely on assumptions of how a race will pan out.

Don't assume. Act. Vote.