I am 18 years old. I will be a first-time voter on November 6. And I can’t wait.

I am not alone. I know for a fact that many of my peers at Santa Ana College and across Orange County share my excitement about voting next month. I’m part of a campaign that is working to reach 10,000 young voters of color in the county — and 100,000 across California — ahead of the elections. Through canvassing, workshops, phone-banking and other activities, we’re hoping to mobilize the power of the youth vote as a positive force for change.

When you talk to young people of color about this year’s elections, you hear a lot of passion and excitement. Young people are concerned about things like police violence and the federal government’s anti-immigrant policies. They look out at their communities and they see problems that need to be solved, like mass incarceration and the school-to-prison pipeline, which ruins the lives of too many young people of color.

The problem that hits home for me is unjust immigration enforcement. As a child of undocumented parents, I live every day with the fear that my parents might be deported, no matter how hard they work or how much they do for our local community.

Our families and our communities shouldn’t have to live with that kind of fear. The only way to reduce the fear and change the system is to get involved and vote. There’s a lot of attention this year on statewide and national elections, and those races are super important. But people sometimes forget how much their vote can shape local policies—right here in our backyard. It’s local elected officials who decide on policies and budgets for police, youth programs and other important activities.

Whether locally or in Washington, young people of color are tired of being ignored. We make up 70 percent of the millennial generation in California, and 50 percent of us are from immigrant or refugee families. So it’s pretty shocking that a new statewide survey [link] shows that young white voters are more likely to say they were contacted by a candidate, a political campaign, or another voter-outreach group than young Black, Latino and Asian American voters.

As young people of color, we know we can’t afford to sit on the sidelines while decisions are made that keep putting our families and our communities at a disadvantage. We need to lead the fight for safer and stronger communities for all people. That’s why I am working with Resilience OC [link] to get out the youth vote in Orange County. We’re organizing voter registration drives in high schools, on college campuses and at community events.

I know from talking to friends this year that young people believe in the power of voting — and the statewide poll from Power California proves it. According to this survey of 2,000 young Californians between the ages of 16 and 24, more than 90 percent of us believe that voting is important; more than 80 percent say it makes a difference.

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Please remember to vote on November 6.

Alba Piedra is a freshman at Santa Ana College and a volunteer with Resilience OC, which is mobilizing young voters for the November election.