When it comes to politics, a lot of us are used to seeing the same types of people. Whether it’s a Republican or a Democrat, the majority of politicians happen to be older, white men.

America is home to a variety of people. Our politicians should be able to relate to and represent all of the citizens, even if they aren’t older, white men.

In 2008, there were 78.1 million female voters  — 9.9 million more than the 68.2 million males who were registered to vote.

That same year, African-Americans had one of the highest voter turnouts for the election. Of the 5 million additional voters in the 2008 election, 2 million were African-American and 600,000 were Hispanic.

Based on past elections, we can see that people of all different backgrounds vote, especially when they have rallied around a candidate of a similar gender, race or background. In the 2008 presidential election, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were two such Democratic candidates that each attracted distinguished support from women and minorities alike.

Of course, anyone running for a political position should be qualified and capable, but there are plenty of women and minorities who are equally qualified to fill those seats.

Politicians are supposed to represent the American people and their views. Shouldn’t that include more closely mirroring the population in terms of race, gender and background?

Voters should vote for a candidate because they agree with his or her platform, but if there’s little diversity among candidates, it’s difficult for voters to see a variety of angles and to find someone that truly represents them.

In 2010, even after President Barack Obama — our nation’s first black president — took office, very few people of color hold seats in the Senate and House of Representatives.

African-Americans hold zero positions in the 100-seat Senate and 42 of the 435 seats in the House of Representatives. Hispanics have two senators and 24 representatives. There are nine Asian-Americans in the House of Representatives and two senators.

There’s also a lack of women in political positions.

The recent midterm election marked the first time in 30 years the percentage of women did not increase, and it actually decreased slightly. Currently,  women hold 17 positions in the Senate and 74 positions in the House.

In Wisconsin, women like Tammy Baldwin and Gwen Moore, who is African-American, are some of the few diversifying Congress.

We can’t create diversity overnight, but we can encourage both female and male politicians of varied races to remain involved in future political campaigns.

She Should Run, a national program organized by the Women’s Campaign Forum, is making efforts toward encouraging more female candidates to run for office and empowering individuals to stand up for issues important to them.

Other organizations like the Congressional Black Caucus, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and the Congressional Asian Pacific Caucus support minority candidates and emphasize the issues concerning minority communities.

More campaigns and organizations like She Should Run and the minority caucuses need to be created because they can greatly increase the number of women and minority candidates in government while encouraging people to support diversity.

Marquette women and students of color should take political science classes if they have the chance and should stay involved with political groups on campus. The 2008 election proved that young voters are important, so staying caught up with current events and different candidates can help encourage diversity in government.

Even though the few people of color and women in office show strides are being made, there is still a long way to go toward making American government fully representative of its people.