“You’re voting for a person who is going to have the same similar concerns as you. That’s the idea of voting,” Barb Larkin, director of voter education with the League of Women Voters of Dallas.

Election season is in full swing at Dallas College’s Richland Campus, where students and citizens alike gathered today to cast their votes for the election.

“Once you get to know who’s actually running, you can go ‘okay.’ Which of these two people sort of is more representative of what do we want to be as a country? Those are the kind of things you’re thinking about when voting,” Larkin said.

Dallas College played a pivotal role in this election season, hosting a Texas House Representative Candidate Forum.

“And I’m running to be your next state representative,” said Cassandra Hernandez, a candidate for Texas House District 115.

The Richland Campus welcomed its own representative from District 102.

“What we do here in Texas, we have to do right by our people,” said Ana-Marie Ramos, representative of Texas House District 102. “Voting matters, from everything that we do, whether your lights are going to be on or off. You want clean water. Voting matters. If you want clean air. Voting matters. Basic books in our schools. So there is a very very profound difference in what it means to your quality of life and that’s why voting matters.”

With stakes high and the nation’s future on the line, voters expressed their hopes and concerns through their ballots.

“I’m hoping that as a result of this election that we will have four more years to come together, as citizens, and decide, ‘what is the direction that we want to go?,’” said voter Marty Angell.

Every election, Dallas College opens its doors as a polling center, bringing the community together to make history and shape the future of our country.