Election Day is this Tuesday, November 7th. Many people, especially college students, don’t see the importance in voting in these local elections. Just because it is not a presidential election does NOT mean that voting this year is not important. In some ways, it’s even more important to vote in your local elections. Local and state governments are often where more change will occur and have a greater effect on you. We are so lucky to live in this nation where we are given the opportunity to vote, and it is not something to be taken for granted. It is your duty as a citizen to show up to the polls. The higher the percentage of voter turnout, the more of a democracy we live in. No matter what your political affiliation is, I strongly encourage you to cast your ballot this Tuesday.
Millennials often get a bad-rap for not voting. And it’s true, younger people often don’t vote. This is something that needs to be changed. The decisions being made in our government now affect our future and we need to start voicing our opinions as early as we are allowed.
Often times people don’t vote in local elections because they don’t know anything about the candidates and are worried about voting uninformed. This is a lame excuse because there are so many online resources that lay out the different platforms of each candidate. Candidates almost always have their own websites that talk about their mission. You don’t need to do extensive research- just spend 30 minutes looking over these sites to help you make a more informed decision.
Another excuse I often hear from college aged students is “I’m just not really a politics person.” Again, a lame excuse. You don’t need to be a “politics person” to vote, and whether you realize it or not, these elections directly affect the community you live in. Everyone should want to improve their own community and voting is a way to directly do so.
If you are like me, and live out of state, you have a few options for voting. You can choose to vote in your home state and get an absentee ballot, or you can register to vote in the state at which you attend school. I am from Virginia, and this year is our governor’s race, so I decided to vote absentee. However, if there was a bigger election in Ohio, I could have voted in that race instead. Another thing to consider is how polarized your state is. If one state is a strong red or blue state, and the other is a swing state, I recommend registering in the swing state. You can only vote in one state, so you might as well make your vote count more. However, it does not really matter which state you vote in, as long as you just VOTE.
As former POTUS Barack Obama once said, “Don’t Boo, Vote!” It takes minimal effort and you get to wear your “I voted” sticker around campus for the rest of the day (check out my absentee sticker below!). So really, what’s stopping you? See you at the polls Tuesday!