Well, sort of. Election Day proper isn't until Nov. 4, but you can cast your ballot starting Thursday, when the early-voting period starts. Voting sites are at the Morehead Planetarium and the Seymour Center in Chapel Hill, Carrboro Town Hall, and the Orange County Public Library and Northern Human Services Center in Hillsborough.

There are plenty of reasons to take advantage of the early-voting period.

This election shapes up to be one with high turnout, and by voting early you can avoid Election Day lines.

If perchance you aren't registered and somehow let last week's deadline slip by, it's not too late; you can register and vote all at once at the early-voting sites (hence the term "one-stop voting"). Don't wait for Nov. 4; the one-stop offer doesn't apply on that day.

If a problem should come up regarding your registration, better to find out early, when there's a chance to fix it, than to discover it at the sign-in table on Election Day.

During the early-voting period any voter registered in Orange County can vote at any of the early-voting sites. That's convenient, especially for some voters who live out in the county, where some of the precinct sites are miles away.

Finally, of course, there's the immediate gratification factor. Given the state of the nation and the world, we're facing a presidential election of monumental importance. Every one of us should have a hand in shaping the future.

You can't fall back on the old "My vote doesn't matter" excuse this time around. For the first time in a long time, North Carolina is, as they say, "in play." This state has voted Republican in every presidential election since Jimmy Carter. By most reckonings, the race in North Carolina is now close enough to make it a tossup.

In every way, your vote matters. So why wait?