With one week left until Election Day, we are most definitely paying close attention to every single move our two main candidates make. This election is my very first election. I can’t really tell you that after 18 years of life I’ve been desperately waiting for this day to come.
As a child my mom would take me into the voting booth. I thought it was weird but cool. It was this really small booth, with a lot of buttons and things. It was really private. You would walk in, cast your ballot and wait with anxiety to hear the results.
Politics wasn’t something always spoken about in my family. Yes, I knew there was a government but the only thing of my interest was the artwork hanging in the White House. I guess politics is a very private and adult conversation. Now, I’m an adult trying to actively engage in these conversations but I somehow can’t.
Before the voter registration deadline, everywhere I went in New York I would see people trying to encourage others to register. There was even a table set up in the 42nd street subway station, throughout my college campus and smack in the center of Times Square. I wasn’t registered to vote and when I turned of age to finally do so, I didn’t.
It was kind of like not getting my permit the moment I turned 16. I was in no rush to do these monumental things every other teenager my age was doing. But registering to vote became a different story. I’m not sure if this was a form of peer-pressure but a few days before the deadline I sat a my desk, pulled up the DMV website and registered online. Considering the fact that I do everything through the internet it was only appropriate to quickly register online in the comfort of my sweatpants and with no pressure of having people hover over a set-up table and watch me childishly fill out the form.
The registration process was easier than I thought. But then came that one question, the question that asked you to declare your political party. I contemplated quickly googling facts about each political party and making my decision from there. But to be honest, time was running out. It was practically midnight and the reason I decided to register was to prove that I am genuinely a good and active American citizen.
With that in mind, I clicked on the “No Party” option. I began to wonder how many people are “No Party” voters. Did they not care about politics like myself? Were they as indecisive as I am? Were they scared of a commitment such as this, like I am? Either way, I’m now a registered voter. I received the slip in the mail and it’s definitely official. But am I going to vote?
My answer to this question is simply no. You might be thinking that I’m just another one of those millennials. The ones who don’t take anything seriously, the ones who only care about themselves, the ones who are lazy as f*ck and the ones who are unaware of what culturally and socially goes on in the world. I can guarantee you that I’m not.
My youth shouldn’t define the type of person that I am. I’m a millennial with probably the same values as you. But my values and beliefs are not represented in this year's campaign. I simply choose to not vote for various reasons and if this topic upsets you I suggest exiting out of this article because it will only get more upsetting.
I chose to not vote because this is a terrible election year and I refuse to be part of the reason our country winds up with its future president. Unfortunately, I have not been able to keep up with all the media throughout this race. But I have checked out the Snapchat news and drama that was circulating throughout social media. For me that’s enough to help in my decision process. After what has been said and done by both candidates, I refuse to further my knowledge on their presidential campaign. In this case, there’s absolutely no happy medium and nothing is going to change that.
You might be thinking that our country fought for the women’s right to vote and because of that I should take advantage and blah, blah, blah. But that reason isn’t good enough. I don’t consider it to be a good idea to try and “take advantage” of this situation. It isn’t even worthy enough.
My purpose is not to persuade you into not voting for the same reasons I’m not voting, instead I’m sharing with you my attitude and current stance in this election year and possibly many more to come. I say many more elections to come for the reason that I most likely won’t be voting for those either. It’s not only about my issues with the candidates, it’s about my issues with politics.
Politics can be extremely messy and I refuse to support elections that involve spite, negative remarks and so much more. If you’re not voting like I am, congrats, stick up for what you believe in. If you are voting, also congrats, stick up for what you believe in.
