I admit, most of the time, I don’t care about elections.

I find the system flawed, to say the least, and akin to a cancerous tumor at the worst. We don’t vote because we believe in our candidate; we often vote because we hate the opposition so fervently.

And all the while, we claim that it is our candidate who will bring “unity.”

But this year has been different for me, and I hope it has been different for many of you, as well. This year, I will be voting for Barack Obama and Joe Biden, not because I so despise John McCain and Sarah Palin, but because I believe in Sen. Obama.

I believe in Obama’s ability to lead this nation forward with the pillars of intelligence, integrity, strength and compassion supporting his platform.

I believe in Obama’s plan to reform health care into a system where my roommate can have insurance, and I will not be denied coverage if I don’t word things exactly to my specifications.

I believe in his ability to bring the perpetrators of 9/11 to justice and to end the war in Iraq. I believe in his integrity and I do not believe he will lie to us or misdirect us to such disastrous consequences as we have seen in the past.

I believe in a president who sits not on a throne of power, but with the people on grounds of rational discourse. That is why I support Sen. Obama.

— Sophie Prell is a junior in pre-journalism and mass communication from Alta