I you’re not registered to vote in the Nov. 5 general election, get off your couch, quit making excuses and do it. It’s not hard.

Friday and Monday offer plenty of time for all 18-and-up citizens to take advantage of the simplest registration process available.

For example, you will find a voter registration form included with your copy of The State News today.

Fill it out with all your information and send it in. If for some reason you lose this form, log onto www.statenews.com or www.michigan.gov/sos and print a copy.

It probably will take less than five minutes to fill out. Then walk, skate, bike or drive it over to the Secretary of State office in downtown East Lansing at the corner of Albert Avenue and Charles Street under the brightly colored parking ramp. You know where it is.

There, it’s that simple.

Register to vote. Then do your civic duty and make a difference.

If you don’t like the way local and state government treats you, then vote. Voting will change more than your complaining will.

Last year, only 1.4 percent of registered voters on campus voted in the East Lansing City Council race.

This is a tragic display from students at MSU, who like to complain about how city residents view them.

Now, some students complain they are registered to vote at home and it is too much of a hassle to switch their address to East Lansing.

This is not true. It is just as easy to register for the first time as it is to switch your registration from home.

Michigan law requires a voter’s registration address and driver’s license address match.

So change your driver’s license address, you’re going to be in East Lansing anyway. If you don’t want to keep it that way, change it after the election. It’s just as easy.

There are no excuses.

If we fail to vote, we fail to tell our community leaders what we want and expect from them.

Not only should you vote, you should tell your friends to do it, too.

You should all get together and look at the profiles of candidates who are running on the ballot.

It’s fun, and informative.

And you don’t have to do this alone. The State News is continuing to provide information on the candidates almost every day. If you miss it, it’s archived on the paper’s Web site.

Use us and other media outlets for the information, because you need to make a valid decision.

Stop making excuses. Stop complaining. Go register. Go vote. Go make a difference.