Election Day is almost here, and with razor-thin margins between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, there are plenty of unknowns. That’s causing election anxiety among voters, candidates and political pundits alike: Will we get results on election night? Which way will key states — and counties — ultimately lean?

It really all comes down to our obsession with what voters are thinking; what, exactly, is going on through someone’s brain when that voter decides who to vote for — or even whether to vote at all? Believe it or not, political psychologists say it likely has less to do with what they’re thinking and a lot more with what they’re feeling.

Why do people vote at all?
When Nov. 5 rolls around, I could be doing any number of things. I could be relishing the fall weather and foliage; I could be working my way through Kelsey Weekman’s list of shows and movies I need to watch; I could be finishing my kid’s Halloween candy. Why, instead, do I and millions of other Americans choose to make our way to polling stations?

It’s a form of self-expression. Keith Humphreys, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University, says there’s no rational reason to vote for president. “There are over 100 million people who are going to vote, so the odds that your vote, my vote or any other individual vote will throw the election are essentially nil,” he tells Yahoo Life. Instead, Humphreys says the most likely reason people do it is as a form of self-expression. “It’s the same reason why sometimes people look at protests and say, ‘That’s not going to persuade anybody.’ But the point isn’t persuading; it’s expressing oneself.”

It’s a habit. Christopher M. Federico, president of the International Society of Political Psychology, tells Yahoo Life that regular voters share a few characteristics: They tend to be well-educated and “have more societal resources,” and they tend to pay more attention to politics. But what really drives people to vote, Federico says, is that it’s just something they’ve gotten in the habit of doing. “You’re more likely to do it the more you have done it in the past, and the more it feels like just something you do normally whenever there are elections,” Federico says of voting.