Why does my vote matter? (October 2018)
By Kelsey Biel
Being a dairy farmer, a high school student, an active member in many organizations, and being a contributing member of my community, I have realized the importance of other people’s voices and how they are portrayed. Everyone with the privilege to vote has a very essential voice to be heard. This is a fact. Whether if is in the community, state, or even federal level, everyone’s voice is to be heard.
However, in the current times. people are taking their voting privileges for granted and not putting out to the polls what they think should be said. Many younger citizens may not understand why or how their vote matters.
The November 2018 election is a midterm election. A midterm eletion refers to a type of election where the people can elect their representatives in the middle of the term of the executive head. This is crucial since the House of Representatives and the Senate are the instrumental hands in passing laws for the United States government. And now, many younger voters’ voices are not heard. Therefore, we are missing a huge, essential part of our community that is not correctly being represented.
Did you know millennials are the most crucial voices for voting right now? Baby boomers and millennials have nearly the same size voting populations. According to Pewresearch.org, millennnials make up 27% and baby boomrs make up 30% of the entire voting population. However, with this comparison of the population, older voters are more likely to vote, even though younger voters make up almost a third of the population. This is also a failure of our, the younger voters, voices to be heard.
Millennials are a more diverse age group of people; therefore, there are more sides of the story to be heard. Without their votes, many sides are not heard or may be silenced because millennials do not have active representatives hear their thoughts and make action in Congress.
Gender, racial equality, LGBT equality, gun violence, and other issues that America’s youth care about have seen flashpoints in recent years, which has helped drive interest and engagement in the political process. All these topics are hot and crucial topics that America’s youth are engaging with. Therefore, the youth need to get out to polls. To get them there, voting rights groups are reaching out to get young people registered and involved.
Minnesota will hold a huge midterm election this year. On the ballots, people are running against each other for state governor, seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Senate seats, and seats for each of our districts for the House. There are many names on each of these ballots, and it may get confusing about who is running for what.
There are usually two big parties running for a race; these are the Republican and (in Minnesota it has a special name) the Democratic-Farmer-Labor (this is also known as the Democratic party). There are also others such as Independent and Grassroots.
Each party has different political views on topics. That is why it is important to do your research before the election to make sure you know who is going to stand up for what you want to be addressed. It is very important to know what changes you would like to see and what yoru elected officials’ plans are to implement their actions.
The young voters may see that their votes help elect representatives during this midterm election to help pass their thoughts into Congress. Young voters need to get out there so they are correctly represented. And if not, the youth are going to be neglected and not let their thoughts be heard through Congress. That’s why our vote matters!
Kelsey Biel, of Harmony, is a junior at Fillmore Central High School.
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