2016 has been a worldwide whirlwind of politics. North Carolina passed a bill limiting non-discrimination ordinances along with transpeople’s rights to use the bathroom which matches their gender identity, our presumptive major party nominees for the upcoming presidential election are called things like “Crooked Hillary” and “Cheeto Jesus” and most recently, the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union.
If ever there was a time to be politically aware, politically active, this is it — especially for college-aged people. Take, for example, the Brexit vote. According to data from The Independent UK, seven out of 10 people who voted to leave the European Union didn’t think their vote mattered.
Whether or not one considers the outcome of the Brexit vote a good thing, being knowledgable about what — or, as November 8 approaches, who — you are going to vote for is imperative.
Did you know there are more people running to be the leader of the free world besides Crooked and Cheeto? Former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson is running for the Libertarian party and environmental-health advocate Jill Stein will be running for the Green Party. Did you know Millennials outnumber Baby Boomers by nearly a million in this country? And yet, according to population-based estimates, only around 24 percent of Millennials got out and voted during the 2014 midterm elections.
Did you know “decision 2016” will include decisions on more than just the presidential election? November 8 holds much more than one election. In North Carolina, gubernatorial, lieutenant gubernatorial, attorney general, secretary of state and many more elections will be held on that ballot.
According to UNC’s Population Center, Millennials make up the second largest section of North Carolina’s electorate, less than 15,000 behind the Baby Boomers. The Center, based on last year’s voter turnout, predicted just barely more than half of eligible Millennial voters would take to the poll. November is the time given to the citizens of the United States to chose their leadership — to chose representatives that will do just that: recommend us on Capitol Hill. And how can representatives be picked for the civilian population when such a large portion don’t go out to vote? They can’t.
Our civic duty to vote is more than just a responsibility — it is a right, a privilege.
