As we near Election Day, I want to acknowledge how personal this vote feels. It’s personal to me, our team at Born This Way Foundation, and our co-founders Lady Gaga and Cynthia Germanotta.

I talk a lot about the election with Gaga and Cynthia, and they wanted to share this message with each of you. “No matter how you feel, your future is still in your hands with this vote.”

https://t.co/UnJeKoCx1v pic.twitter.com/Ph2iFxNOEE

— Lady Gaga (@ladygaga) October 30, 2020

We urge you to make your voice heard this election. Your vote matters for our country and it matters for me, personally.

Though I take every vote I cast seriously, this one feels even more important. This will be my mom Alina’s last election and I’m using my vote to fight for the world that she’s leaving as opposed to the one she spent her life preparing for me. I had the privilege of watching her build her American dream, immigrating from Romania shortly before I was born. She earned the right to vote, became a doctor, and cried unreasonably every time a U.S. Customs Officer said, “Welcome Home,” to her after she cleared customs at JFK Airport. Each time she voted, she took me out of school and we stood behind the voting curtain at the local middle school, pulling levers and pushing papers. She lived so much of her life in a country where she was fearful to use her voice, so in the United States of America, she lived openly, opinionated, and with immense pride in our democracy and the power of our collective voices.

Make your vote plan at howto.vote. Do it for yourself and your community. Do it for Alina and for the gaggle of grandchildren that she fought so hard to bring into this beautiful, messy, imperfect, resilient country of ours.

Click here to visit howto.vote today and tell us why you’re voting on social media using #WhyImVoting.