If we truly hope to affect change in our communities, voting is not enough. Casting a ballot is the bare minimum we can do and we must take a more active stake in making democracy work for us if our communities and this country are ever meant to fulfill their full promise.

While Illinois and Texas were early to the punch, for the rest of the country, May is something like the unofficial start to primary season, the period during which we’ll select contenders who get to enter the ring for a sort of political "Celebrity Death Match" during fall elections. In some cases, primaries are the only elections that will take place in a city, town or locality — so if you miss those (like Memphis, Tennessee; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Ohio), you’ve missed your chance to weigh in on critical leadership decisions where you live.

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In what is supposedly the most successful democracy in the world, it is true we struggle to get people to turn out to the polls, much less engage more fully in the democratic process outside of election days. In the 2016 presidential election, for instance,

60.2 percent

of the voting-eligible population, about 139 million Americans, showed up to vote.

Despite nearly half the voting-eligible population sitting this election out, turnout was still higher than it was four years earlier for President Barack Obama Barack Hussein ObamaThe Memo: Trump's strengths complicate election picture Obama shares phone number to find out how Americans are planning to vote Democrats' troubling adventure in a 'Wonderland' without 'rule of law' MORE’s re-election, where turnout was 58.6 percent.

But Election Day turnout is a far more frequent endeavor than regular engagement in the democratic process. And that’s the biggest problem we face today in America’s political and policy life.

Democracy only works if we work it and the only way to make our system by and for the people to do more work before you vote. For example:

Understand who’s responsible for what:

If you’re mad about the pothole on your street, or tactics by your local police force, don’t invest all your time petitioning your member of Congress when that’s not their job. Learn which officials are responsible for overseeing the things you most care about.

Make yourself known:

Politics is the only job where we hire people to do a job and then don’t check up on them regularly to make sure they’re performing to our standards. If the only time you see your elected representative, if at all, is during election season, you can almost be sure your needs are not adequately being met. Call their office. Email them. Reach out via social media. Make sure they know who you are and that you’re watching.

Complain early and often:

Don’t wait for the whole house to catch fire before you call the fire department. If you don’t like the way someone is handling their job as an elected official, make sure you let them and their staff know at every turn. Again, elected officials are supposed to represent your interests — they’ll only know what you want them to do if you tell them often and keep them in check.

Hold leadership accountable:

The threat of not being re-elected can be a very compelling motivation for someone who decides to serve in elective office. At a minimum, you need to vote at every chance you get and in between elections, it’s imperative that you let your representative know you’re watching and that your vote is contingent upon their performance.

Advocate like your life depends on it because it does:

No one will ever take care of you or address your concerns the way you can. Regularly expressing your needs and expectations of government may be a time-consuming and sometimes confusing process, but if you don’t speak up on your own behalf, someone else’s agenda will rise to the top.

Much is at stake before and election days: On Nov. 6, all 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives are up for grabs, as are 33 seats in the U.S. Senate and gubernatorial slots in 36 states and three territories. Likewise, with more than 89,000 state and local governments, elections beyond the federal level abound, as do decisions about everything from affordable housing and school choice, to the medical and recreational use of marijuana.

We claim to be a “representative democracy,” but by the time most people show up to the process, the core decisions — who’s up for election, what issues are on the table — have already been made. If we more fully engage before elections, the choices we make have a better shot at creating the government we want when we put all our hopes and dreams in one vote.

Kristal High Taylor is the CEO of nFluence.us, P.B.C., which is an e-commerce, media, and technology company focused on increasing civic engagement and democratic participation.She is also a , a BMe Public Voices Fellow.