Today is October 31st, by the time you read this article, it will be days away from Election Day— which I just want to reiterate is on November 6th— so hopefully, you’re already registered to vote. If you are, good on you! If not, try to get registered as soon as possible, that way you’ll be eligible to vote when the next election comes around. Maybe you’re not registered and don’t feel like it’s worth it to do so. Maybe you’re registered but you won’t vote because you feel like you’re one person and your voice doesn’t matter. I’m here to tell you why it does.
I was a senior in high school when I registered to vote, and while I couldn’t vote because Election Day preceded my 18th birthday, I still registered so that I would be able to do so when I was eighteen. I had to take a Participation in Government (PIG) class. Students in my PIG class were torn between voting for the “lesser of two evils” and couldn’t distinguish which that was and stated that they were not going to vote because they didn’t want either candidate in office, when in reality, one of those candidates were more than likely to end up in office whether they voted or not. Choosing not to vote only had a negative effect on the outcome. If that’s the case, why not exercise your right to do so and incite change?
In our 2016 election, tens of thousands of write-ins were wasted— on things like Harambe, a dead gorilla, and Hennessy— and roughly 43% of people who were registered to vote, did not show up at the polls. This percentage equates to roughly 100 million of our eligible voters. As of right now in America, it’s apparent that not everyone has the same rights to life or liberty. If we, as millennials all exercise our right to vote, we can incite the change that our country so badly needs. You may think that your voice doesn’t matter because you’re “just one person”. If everyone has that mindset, then it’s not just one person at that point.
You have the ability to use your voice and help push for a better government, one that stands for ALL of the people represented in our nation, minorities or not. Regardless of the election, presidential or not, it’s important to exercise your right to vote because no matter how small the position may seem to you, having the right people in any position in office is important. The people being elected have the power to affect our lives on a daily basis and it’s our job as citizens of this country to ensure that they are affecting all lives for the better.
If you want to see change in this country and know that you are doing everything in your power to make sure that the change that we not only want, but need, comes about, make your way to the polls and don’t let your voice go to waste. This is your future. Don’t you want to take control of it?