Your Voice Matters: Why Should Vote on Election Day
It’s that time of year again—election season!
Two years ago we had what most people think of when they think of elections: a presidential election. Everyone who’s passed basic American history knows that we elect (or reelect) a president every four years. But what some people might not realize is that we have elections every year, whether for state governors, house and senate representatives, or local elected officials. This year, we are holding midterm elections, where all house representatives and one third of senators are in election races. In addition, 36 states elect their governors during this year’s midterm elections, according to Politico.
Why is it important? We all know that Americans pride themselves on democracy, and one of the key points of democracy is that the public actually voices their opinion. This doesn’t mean just voting for the President. If you can make your voice heard by electing more parts of the government, then why wouldn’t you? In some ways you can make even more of a difference by voting for your state representatives or senators: they serve a smaller constituency of voters and so are more concerned with the issues that relate to your hometown, and congress are the ones who actually write the laws, a key part of our government.
Congress today has an abysmal approval rating of 14% according to Gallup’s most recent poll (taken Sept. 4-7 2014). With such ratings, one would think that people would be racing to the polls to elect new members of Congress. But less than half of the population tends to vote in midterm election (42% voted in the last midterm election in 2010, according to fairvote.org). People our age are even worse. According to civicyouth.org, only 24% of Americans between 18 and 29 voted in the last midterm elections. We love to complain about how terrible our government is functioning. We also love to praise our system of democracy. So why not take advantage of both and exercise your right to vote? It is your duty as an American to let your voice be heard. Otherwise, you’re missing out on exercising one of your crucial rights in this country, and one so many people have fought and died for.
The people in the government think that people our age are the most apathetic. Let’s change that perception. If we show the government that our vote matters, they will be more willing to listen to our issues (like maybe about helping to keep interest low on all of those student loans we’re going to have). People have fought for our right to vote. Let’s not dishonor their sacrifice by not exercising that right.
Kenyon will provide transportation to the local polling station, the Community Center at 115 Meadow Lane, (located past the KAC) on November 4th! Get out there and make your voice heard!