The Importance of Students Registering to Vote

Teens influencing the future of America through voting

Carly Herbert, Editor-in-Chief

As of 2016, the millennial voting bloc had surpassed 62 million voting-age citizens, closing in on the Baby Boomer voting bloc that holds steady at 70 million voting age citizens.

With mid-term election season upon us, any student who will be eighteen at the time of the vote should have registered to vote. But young voters have historically had low voter turnout at the polls each year.

What preventing them from voting? Is it the lack of information given to them in school based off the assumption that all talk of politics will lead to controversy and turmoil in the classroom? Or can we accredit it to the idea of young voters not seeing candidates who represent their interests and ideologies?

Regardless of the reasons deterring the younger generation from avoiding the polls, as they become the largest eligible voting, young voters need to start making their way to the polls each election season.

Why should they vote, though? What’s one vote going to do? Chances are, one single vote isn’t going to have a drastic effect on the upcoming election, but by getting involved and informed about political matters at a younger age increases the chances of you staying political active later on in life.

Additionally, registering to vote and participating in elections means that you are having an impact on the political, economic, and other aspects of the government system. The concept of “if you don’t vote, you can’t complain” has some truth to it. By not exercising your constitutional right to vote, you’re forfeiting your right to complain when change doesn’t happen. In order to actually impact the political landscape, you have to exercise your right to vote.

Though it takes a few more minutes than simply just tweeting out your political views, actually registering to vote and filling out the ballot directly influences the outcome of an election. That isn’t to say that Twitter and similar social media platforms aren’t a great way to reach large populations of potential voters and spread political involvement, but when words should be backed by actions (such as actually casting a vote). By voting during election season, you’re taking the proper steps to create some sort of impact in legislative outcomes.

The question is; what’s going to persuade these generations to go out to the polls and vote? An influx of celebrities speaking out and contributing to the political climate has also made an impact on young adults voting.

Public figures coming forward on platforms such as Twitter and YouTube taking sides on political issues and encouraging young people to vote, has an impact on election turn out. With so many public figures coming forward, their fans But will seeing their favorite celebrities being politically active be enough to drag young voters to the polls?

Another route for improving youth turnout during election season is automatic voter registration. As of this year, sixteen states have automatic voter registration, which registers citizens to vote when applying for or renewing a drivers license, which promotes opting out of voting instead of opting.

As election day creeps closer, social media platforms are flooded with posts trying to persuade young voters to show up to the polls. Whether or not these posts will actually be successful in pulling