This election day, tens of millions of Americans exercised their voting muscle--more than 120 million by some estimates, or 60-percent of eligible voters--and that's encouraging.

Kudos to you if you can count yourself a member of this group!

Still other tens of millions of Americans did not vote--many of them between ages of 18 and 30, same people who one day will become future leaders for our country--and that's most disappointing.

It's clear that many Americans take their right to vote for granted, or simply don't care. They have become complacent, reciting all-too-familiar, "My one vote won't make a difference." But tell that to Al Gore who, had 537 voters in Florida not turned out and voted for George W. Bush in 2000, would most likely have been this year's incumbent.

Luckily, not all of sons and daughters of previous American generations took right to vote for granted. Many fought and some even died to secure our ability to hold "free" elections. Starting in Revolutionary times, through Civil War and scandals and corruption of mid- to late-19th century, through World Wars, and into present day, Americans have waged an ongoing battle to ensure that our system of voting and elections endures. They fought so women could vote; they fought so that all Americans, regardless of race, gender, or political leaning could vote. They won . . . and we and entire world are their beneficiaries.

When we take time out of our otherwise busy lives to stop by our local polling places, we not only exercise our right--our duty--to vote, we also honor sacrifices of these past generations.