You need to vote.
Voting is about so much more than exercising your right – it’s about exercising your voice.
As a self-identified millennial, I am concerned when I hear so many of my peers talk about how their votes don’t matter. In a generation where we fight for representation to be a necessity, how can we ignore the opportunity to represent ourselves with our votes?
According to the Pew Research Center, in 2012, 46 percent of millennials voted in the presidential election, which is lower than the 50 percent turnout in 2008 – possibly due to the optimism toward the Obama administration during the 2008 election of Obama v McCain.
While the 2016 numbers won’t be known for some time, the two major party candidates aren’t exactly favorable to the current generation — we see these through an amass of tweets that constantly dissect how both candidates aren’t strong choices.
So, what is it about these two candidates that makes us reluctant to cast our ballots?
Maybe I’m overly prideful, but millennials are the at the forefront of so much change within the world, yet we’re taking the backseat to our own power.
I get it, we’re the generation that believes in the importance of representation so it’s hard for us to identify with and believe in two white, affluent and privileged candidates. But, if we don’t make our voices heard, we’ll never pave the way to be represented in the future.
Isn’t that’s what voting is all about, making our voices heard?
What I don’t think many understand is how capable we are of change. Not just as millennials, but as people and as students.
According to a local study of students by a surveyor, Megan Broudy from the Modesto Bee, 68 percent of millennials – or those who identify as one – felt as if their political views have been dismissed.
While the sample is small — only fifty students— it’s also a microcosm for the generation at large as I’ve experienced with my conversations in person and through social media.
The irony in all of this is that we are one of the most active groups for socio-political issues.
In an article by Russell Dalton, titled, “Why don’t millennials vote?” from The Washington Post, it’s said that we are as interested in politics as the previous generations, specifically the youth during the Vietnam War. However, we are more likely to get involved in “protests or other political confrontations.”
On a local level for Long Beach, I’ve seen protests for Black Lives Matter and the Million Man March. I’ve seen demonstrations for Latin-American women in the housekeeping industry as well as protests advocating free tuition. I have seen first-hand how active we are in reform and change, so why would we think that our voices don’t matter?
We’re intelligent, we’re intellectual, we’re passionate, we’re a plethora of words that are synonymous with smart. We’re a mix of all these words because we actually care about what is going to happen to us. Not that previous generations don’t, but the focus is on us and our future.
We worry about job security, we worry about human rights, we worry about immigration rights, we worry about the state of our government and institutionalized marginalization and we worry about how all of these issues intersect.
We worry about our future because we are the future.
In that same vein, our future is going to be in the hands of one of these candidates and the least we can do is add our voices. We hold the keys to our future and we have the obligation to honor that power.
I might question your sanity if you’re hopping on the Trump-train, but at the very least I want you to empower yourself and vote.
Honor yourself and give a damn about your future.
If you have the opportunity to fight for change on a grassroots level, then fight for change in your ballot. Elections are about so much more than your next president. They involve your congress, district representatives, etc. Much of your vote will affect you directly, on a local level, so take part in the change that you wish to see.
Exercise your voice. You will be heard.