Hi everyone! For my article in HerCampus this week I want to focus on the 2018 Midterms coming up and why YOU should vote in them. The importance of voting cannot be understated.
As my social studies teacher in fifth grade told me, voting is a right and a responsibility. Many people around the world do not have a voice, but here in the United States we have been given this amazing opportunity to effect change in our communities and around our country. Free and fair elections are a cornerstone of our democracy, take advantage of that.
Youth voter turnout is so small, especially for midterms, which seems scary to me because we are the ones who will inherit this country, so we should be voicing our opinions NOW. Many people will think that your vote does not matter, but that is not at all true. Looking back into history, there is a key example in the George Bush vs. Al Gore presidential race. Bush won Florida by only 537 votes and in New Mexico Gore won by 366 votes (Global Citizen). While Bush won overall, these close races illustrate the potential of both state’s electoral votes to go either way. The U.S. is sadly behind many countries in the amount of people who turn out to vote, in 2016, 56% of eligible voters in the U.S. That is almost half of the country who did not get a say, and during the 2014 midterms, LESS than half of eligible voters in 43 states turned out to vote (Pew Research). So, yes, your vote does matter.
Even in small municipal elections, YOU can make a difference by simply casting a ballot for the programs and policies that you believe in. A higher turn out makes our democracy more representative, which benefits everyone (Huffington Post). By holding your representatives accountable, you have the ability to affect change for yourself and your loved ones.
Now even after all of that convincing you may still be thinking but you do not have the time, are not educated on the issues, or that these votes do not really affect you. But this is all untrue! Thanks to some amazing people from an activist community called Crooked, we now have Vote Save America, which is a one stop shop for everything democracy. Get registered, get your absentee, get a sample ballot, and get educated on the issues in your community, you can find it all in one spot. You can even find places to get involved, all at Vote Save America –> https://crooked.com/article/be-a-voter-save-america/
So, as the great people at Vote Save America would say, Save America. Vote.
Sources:
https://www.globalcitizen.org/fr/content/why-every-vote-matters-closest-elections-in-histor/
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/05/21/u-s-voter-turnout-trails-most-developed-countries/
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/reasons-to-vote-in-elections_us_56c776e2e4b041136f16e9ad