My great-grandmother, and possibly yours, organized rallies and demonstrations and endured countless episodes of ranting and degradation from society in the name of securing a woman's right to vote.

This is a free country we live in. Today more than ever before, we realize how dearly that freedom costs our nation. Freedom is not free. When we think of the price we pay for our liberties, our 21st century mindsets typically think of Vietnam and the Gulf War and now Iraq. But freedom and our constitutional rights as Americans and as women are up for grabs right here in our own country and our own communities.

Picture this: Election Day, 2004, Kenai Peninsula, Alaska. The polling places are humming with registered voters and volunteer pollsters. Alaskans are casting their precious votes for leaders of the free world and the communities in which they live. You look long and hard as the voters crackle their way through the icy parking lots into community locations to mark their ballots.

After a few minutes, you realize that the nagging feeling something is wrong with this picture has materialized into the realization that all the voters are men. What is up with that? This clearly means that the quality of understanding women will bring to an election regarding issues such as education of their children, health care for their families, domestic violence issues, women's health and medical issues, women's protection laws and statutes will not be recognized. Who will categorically decide when and whether her loved ones are called to military duty?

And this imaginary scenario is actually quite close to factual women are not voting. Come on, ladies. These issues will move up on the priority lists of candidates and politicians with every vote a woman casts.

Less than 100 years ago, this scenario was a reality in the entire United States. Women could neither vote nor run for public office. This seems unfathomable to today's woman, who is very likely to be a working woman and mother and is very likely to be a single working mother, a homeowner and small business owner and is unarguably a serious, controlling factor as a consumer in the economy.

A woman in 2004 has got to have some strong opinions and ideas about the way it should be. And as busy as all that gives us a right to be, I think we are familiar in concept at least with taking time for ourselves. This is a classic example of that cliche in action: Take a few minutes of time for yourself and for your family and for the women who came before you as well as the women who will follow you to vote.

Whatever your political or personal opinions are, they are yours and they are important. The only way to effect changes or improvements for the issues that we find pressing is to vote. No matter your ideas of politicians and politics as usual, you can count on this simple equation: more votes equal more attention. Simple equation, simple task.

Did you know that if every woman who did not vote in the last presidential election voted in this one, they could completely decide the outcome? True story.

It is difficult to get too excited about much of what goes on in the political arena because of the degree of muck involved, but the only way to raise the bar on our politicians is to raise our collective voice. We can make it very clear to even the muckiest of politicians that we have opinions on matters that they need to address if they are to win our vote.

Lori Blank is a single working mother, business-owner and homeowner in Anchor Point who pays taxes and votes.