I was scrolling through Twitter the other night and came across a tweet announcing the next Presidential Democratic debate’s location. The debate will take place at Otterbein College, which is just 30 minutes from us here at Denison. It excites me that the debate is going to take place at a college institution so close to us. I hope this Democratic debate rallies the students at Otterbein, Denison, and other colleges around Columbus to educate themselves about our presidential primary candidates for the 2020 election. While what I am about to say is overstated, I will say it anyway: young voters have the influence to make or break elections. This accounts especially for “battleground” states. During the 2016 election baby boomers cast 49% of the ballots yet only made up 43% of the eligible voters.
Younger voters… wya?
After seeing the tweet, I began to contemplate using this article to rally Denisonians to educate themselves on our Democratic primary candidates in order to make a thoughtful ballot vote on Election Day. Once I sat down and started typing, I realized the injustice of the statement your voice matters when in places such as Georgia and North Dakota young voters’ voices (especially those of color) have been taken away from them during the 2018 gubernatorial election. For instance, the 2018 race for Georgia Governor between Republican Brian Kemp and Democrat Stacey Abrams was a race closely monitored by not only Georgians but many others around the country. Abrams was the first black woman in the nation to hold a majority party nomination, and if she won, she would have been the nation’s first black female governor.
The voter suppression in these states, specifically Georgia, was unignorable. Voter registration was being purged and put on hold for people of color and younger voters, there were problems with voters’ absentee and provisional ballots, and issues arose at the polls on Election Day at predominantly non-white voting precincts. All of this happened while Brian Kemp dismissed the request to recuse himself as Secretary of State due to conflicts of interests. Requests for recusal came from not just the Abrams’ campaign but former President Jimmy Carter. Despite these requests his office put 53,000 voter registrations on hold; 70% of those people were black applicants.
This impacted Georgia’s election tremendously. People of color and young voters’ right to democracy was stripped from them, and their voices were not heard or counted. The fight continues not only in Georgia but around the country.
ALL of this to say…
if you have not registered… you should!
check your voting history — be sure your voice is heard.
check your voter registration.
& watch the democratic debate on October 15th!!!
Here is a helpful resource: https://www.usa.gov/register-to-vote