Within the next 4 years, you may be getting a job, starting graduate school, owning or renting your own housing, getting married, starting a family, paying for health care or building a business. The policies you vote for today will have a huge influence on your life after college. Do you really want to leave those decisions up to someone else?
1.Democracy
People, America may be representative of a democracy, but your elected representatives still need to know how their constituents think in order to more accurately represent them. Your vote is a vital part of that process
2. No one else votes with college students in mind
Many people vote while thinking of all the other demographics and constituencies; the elderly, people without health insurance, the middle, and lower classes. But very few voters actually focus on the specific needs of college students. No one knows our struggle better than we do when it comes to issues like student loan rates, admission policies, and educational standards and with those hotly contested topics on the ballot, who is better qualified to vote than those who will be implicated by those initiatives.
3. Millenial voters are the most diverse.
According to Rock the Vote, sixty-one percent of Millennials identify as White, while 17% are Hispanic, 15% are black and 4% are Asian. Who else is going to vote to represent the needs of such a diverse constituency?
4. Don’t be a hypocrite.
We’re in college. We’re here to expand our minds by challenging ourselves in new and exciting ways. We are advancing our spiritual intellect by opening ourselves up to things we may not have had the chance to before. We’re supposed to be progressing into adulthood. So when the time comes are you really going to pass on empowering yourself by voting? Really?
5. Many people fought for your right to vote.
No matter your race, gender, or age, your right to vote came at a price. Honor the sacrifices others made so that your voice could be heard when theirs wasn’t.
Take a second out of your day to find out where the polls are near you and exercise your right to vote! Every vote counts and your voice needs to be heard.
HCXO!