DC residents could not always choose our own leaders. Now it’s easy to honor that history — and vote.

Perhaps you’re a touch younger than your friendly Forest Hills Connection founders, but we think about this fact every election year: DC won the right to choose its own local leaders within our lifetimes.

Until a little over a half century ago, the president of the United States, not DC residents, decided who would govern the city.

For decades, appointees ran the show. Then, Congress passed the Home Rule Act in 1973, and the District’s first elected mayor and council members took office in 1975.

Fifty-one years later, it is remarkably easy to vote in DC. If you’re registered, a ballot shows up in the mail a few weeks before each election, and can be filled out and dropped in a mailbox or at designated dropboxes.

People who prefer the in-person voting experience can head to any of the early vote centers now open through Sunday, Nov. 1 from 8:30 to 7 p.m. There are three along Connecticut Avenue alone, at the Chevy Chase library, the UDC Student Center and the Cleveland Park library.

And of course, there’s Election Day voting. People no longer have to head to a polling place in an assigned precinct. Just like the early vote centers, each Election Day vote center will be open to all registered and would-be voters.

Voters in our neighborhood can go to the three locations mentioned above, plus Murch Elementary will be closed to students so it can open up to voters on Nov. 3. Their Election Day hours are 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Not registered? DC has same-day voter registration, too.

Finally, if you’re a voter in the Forest Hills Connection coverage area, we can also help you learn about a few of the names showing up (or not) on your ballots: the candidates for ANC 3F commissioners.

No matter how or when you vote, we hope you will remember those who didn’t get to choose their leaders in days gone by, exercise your rights, and wear your “I Voted” sticker proudly!