By the time you pick up Thursday’s edition of the Lanthorn, votes will have been cast and counted, and results on who won the 2012 election will have been announced.

This year, we won’t endorse a candidate (though we think the answer should be obvious.) Instead, we’ll endorse the youth vote, and we’ll tell you again how very real the impact will be of the outcome of this election.

Much like 2008, it has been an election for the books. Much differently from 2008, this election season has offered us neither substance nor answers, and now we’re to make one of our single most important decisions as American citizens with the backdrop of a still-struggling economy, insane levels of student debt, a weak job market and a polarized electorate.

Aside from any accusations of apathy, it’s pretty clear that many of us are disillusioned with our government, our job market and sometimes our degree. Us youth voters (ages 18-29) are facing an unemployment rate that’s over twice as much as our parents – 12.6 percent versus 6.7 percent of those over 30 are unemployed. Those youth voters without a degree have an even bleaker prospect, with a 20.1 percent unemployment rate.

Times are tough, GVSU, but that’s where we come in.

Currently, the Pew Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement reports 46 million registered youth voters – that’s 21 percent of the population, and 17 million more than were registered in 2008. By 2015, it’s projected that Millennials will make up one-third of the electorate. Those are real (powerful) numbers – like the 66 percent of youth voters in 2008 that put our first African American president in office, and now hold a significant portion of the power to either keep him there or kick him out.

In today’s issue on A3 we did a little bit of break-down on the candidate platforms, but there’s national-level, state-level and local-level proposals that each voter has the responsibility to take the time to hash out.

If you’re still unclear, organizations like Rock the Vote or Project Vote Smart have web sites with resources that make knowing your vote easier than buying alcohol when you’re under 21.

So when you’re laying in bed Tuesday morning, thinking about whether or not it’s worth it to put on your pants and get to the polls, remember that this decision isn’t between two different candidates – it’s two very different visions of what this country should look like.