Young people will play a critical role in the 2012 election -- in deciding what direction we take as a state and as a nation in the years and decades to come.

What we do over the next four days will shape the next four years and beyond.

So let's vote. Let's make our voices heard.

Let's vote because President Obama has fought to make college more affordable by doubling the size of Pell Grants and keeping student loan interest rates low.

Let's vote because President Obama has a plan to work with states and universities to cut the cost of tuition in half over the next ten years.

Let's vote because President Obama believes in equal pay for equal work and that women are perfectly capable of making their own health care decisions.

Let's vote because we need to move forward, and because the President has a concrete and specific plan to make that happen.

He would hire 100,000 new math and science teachers and create 1 million new jobs in American manufacturing by ending tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas.

President Obama would tap all sources of American energy, including wind, solar, biofuels and natural gas, to reduce our dependence on foreign oil and create up to 600,000 new jobs

And after keeping his promise to end the Iraq war and bring the war in Afghanistan to a responsible end, he will use some of those savings to help pay down the deficit and to do some nation building right here at home.

That's the President's plan. But Mitt Romney has a very different vision for the future of our country.

Governor Romney's best advice for young people struggling to afford college tuition is to "shop around."

He wants to give millionaires and billionaires a $5 trillion tax cut, and pay for it by slashing investments in things like Pell Grants, innovation, science and research.

His plan involves kicking millions of young people off their parents' health coverage and allowing insurance companies to deny folks coverage because of a pre-existing condition.

Mitt Romney wants to return to the same failed policies that crashed our economy and decimated the middle class.

At a time when we need to move forward, Governor Romney wants to take us back.

That's the choice in this election. That's what's at stake. And that's why it's so important for young people and all Americans to vote in this election and make their voices heard.

If you have any questions about voting, make sure to visit

As Governor Hickenlooper said during the President's visit to Boulder last September, "it's your future, shape it. It's your democracy, vote."

The time is now, and there is little time left to make sure you have a say in what our country looks like, not just for the next four years, but for decades to come.


Joe Neguse is a University of Colorado Regent.