With the election season quickly winding down, most people have finally decided on who they want to cast their vote for: Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump. While there’s always a handful of third party stragglers and those who decide to sit the election out, this year has been an exception for off road voting habits. Many more people are willing to vote third party, and even some #BernieOrBust still exist. I was one of them, and I just now decided to finally vote for Hillary Clinton.
This is my first presidential election. I was active during the 2008 and 2012 Obama/McCain and Obama/Romney campaigns, volunteering and trying to do my best as a middle, then high schooler, to be involved without legally being able to vote. Now that I’m over 18, this election means more to me and I try my best to stay involved, updated, and educated.
When the election campaigns started I didn’t know about Bernie Sanders and was behind Hillary 100%. First female president? Yes, please! Once the dust settled and I saw who else was in the running, I made a quick change over to Bernie. Everything fit what I believed in, it made sense, and I ultimately trusted his decision making. I had seen him speak in Maine, I volunteered and helped run a downtown march in Cincinnati, so nothing hurt more than watching him hand his electoral votes over to Hillary during the DNC. As a bitter young voter, I was Bernie or bust. I held out hope that maybe, just maybe, there could be a chance.
As Bernie started backing Hillary, I knew I couldn’t vote for him anymore; so I moved to Jill Stein. A third-party, Green vote was what I consciously wanted to do if my number one man was removing himself from the competition. By this point, all of the scandals revolving around Hillary had come to a head, and I couldn’t put my trust in her. The same unbridled, eyes closed, fall backwards trust I had given to Bernie couldn’t be felt for another candidate. Green was the closest I would be.
While I set in my ways of voting Stein, the polls grew closer between Clinton and Trump. The protests online started with how voting third party was voting for privilege, and I still wanted to keep my vote. But during this time, I got involved with Pro-Hillary organizations and went out to canvas for her. While I was out, I came across a young woman who described Trump as a necessary evil, needed for war and chaos so that we as a nation could be saved, and it made me wonder if what I was voting for was really what I needed. Later that evening, Bernie gave a speech that this election was not the election for a protest vote. The threat is real, and it’s staring at us using the face of a smug millionaire who has nothing good to give. Here Bernie was again, my youthful hope’s pride and joy, telling me what he believed, and after what I had witnessed on the street I knew I had to change.
It’s now less than fifty days before the election, only one whole month separating us from President Clinton or President Trump, that I finally decided my bitterness doesn’t win elections. They don’t accept it at the polls, it means nothing to the majority, and the only person I help is the one I’m trying to keep out of office. One year later, I finally decided to vote for Hillary Rodham Clinton. One year later, I’m making my vote count.
This is an opinion piece, if you wish to share your opinion please email xavier@hercampus.com to apply to be a writer. – HCXU