1. Registering to Vote
So, you’ve somehow gotten to college and made a bunch of poli sci friends without having ever registered to vote. You mention this one day and they all end up texting you a link to how to register. You maybe take one of those quizzes to see what party you are most aligned with, then you register and forget about it for a couple months.
2. Voting in the Primaries
and
3. Getting an Absentee Ballot
Because you spend a good chunk of the year halfway across the country from home, you need to figure out what the heck to do. If your state has reasonable voting laws, you manage to get an absentee ballot and vote in the primaries all without being too concerned for too long about your vote. It’s all the same party, right?
4. Contacting a Representative
The news broke your heart over an issue you think is important, and after voting in a primary you realize you can have input. You follow links to email your state representatives messages of approval/disapproval because, for once, you think it is that important.
5. Stumbling onto the National Conventions
Television and your favorite news app become dominated with speeches and talking points from these, but you didn’t see what the big deal was about. But hey, you’re stuck in a hotel and catch the tail end of a speech that sounded pretty good, so you google and read it. And then you read anther. And another. And text your poli sci friend when the candidate for the party you now feel invested in is declared.
6. Watching Satirical News
You end up watching way too much John Oliver and fall in love with Kate McKinnon’s Clinton on SNL. It’s not quite a direct match for following campaigns directly, but you get the main talking points and at least are up to date on the latest scandals.
7. Debate Fact Checking
You casually read a transcript of the debate after it happened, but it was from NPR so it has these weird notes that explain the actual issue and state the facts. You were like 5 when half of this stuff happened and so you are intrigued by these ‘new’ events. And you get mad when these candidates fall short of the standard to which you hold them. So it turns into an event with a friend, interjected by shouts of indignation and the occasional fist pumping.
8. Initiating Conversations
You realized this election is too important to not care, and start talking about it. You bring it up with your grandmother, coworker, roommate, and little brother. You learn to argue for your candidate and do so happily, even if they are imperfect. You can express well researched opinions about voting for third party candidates, not voting, voting as a Catholic, or anything someone proposed in an Observer article.
9. Repping Your Candidate
You want to participate in the grand tradition of yard signs to rep your candidate, but you live in a dorm. So you order some buttons, a laptop sticker, a t-shirt even, and wear it around knowing full well you could be inviting conflict. You grin when someone compliments your politics.
10. Voting in an Election
You make it to a polling booth (or a mailbox), after having googled all of the candidates on your state’s ballot, not just the presidential ones, because you know it is your civic duty. You recognize the importance of the democratic system, and you nag every person you know to do the same. You know your eyes will be glued to the news as the results trickle in on the night of November 8th, but you have done all you can. All you can do now is hope that everyone else did their research and participated as well.
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