If you have been on campus in the past few weeks, you have probably noticed students crowding around an ironing board decorated with posters advertising to help you “register to vote in under 3 minutes.” Amongst all the other bombardment of flyers and tabling, this small display seems unremarkable and easy to ignore. However, the student volunteers of UpVote, a National Voter Registration Day partner, are advertising arguably the one of the most important opportunities available to students.
As a college student in the US, it’s easy to be angry and discouraged about the way our government is running the country. Our politicians seem to be playing games of chance, but instead of money they’re betting with our futures. Unfortunately, this pessimism towards the government is resulting in the lowest voter turnouts since World War II. According to the The Center For Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE), young people, ages 18-29, consisted of only 21.5% of voters in the 2014 midterm election.
Millennials are the largest generation in our country’s history—even larger than the Baby Boomers. According to Rock The Vote, more than 84,000,000 millennials will be of voting age by the time of the next presidential election. We are the most educated and most diverse generation representing the largest demographic in modern America. So why don’t elections reflect that?
The simple answer is that our generation has given up too easily. We have seen that our government doesn’t listen to the voices of young people, so we have stopped trying to get them to listen. The common thought is how can I change the government as just one person or my vote doesn’t matter. The reality is your vote does matter.
If more millennials voted in elections, it would force politicians to take notice of young people and listen to what we have to say. They don’t focus on college tuition hikes or other student issues because they know young people don’t vote. We can change that.
By voting, we can ensure that the people making the laws that govern our lives are held accountable to the real problems faced by the majority of Americans, not just those who normally turn out to vote.
Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” Although it may seem like you are just one person in a sea of a million, your voice and your vote are the foundation to a better future.
The last day to register to vote in the San Francisco municipal elections is October 19. To register or change your address of registration go to http://www.weupvote.us or visit the table on campus.