In the past few weeks, I have spent over twenty hours registering voters at Michigan State University. Under the shadows of Beaumont Tower, in the line of Starbucks in Wells, and outside of the MSU Union. I've been chasing students left and right with a clipboard and ink pen. As a political science major and a fellow for a presidential campaign, I've found it as my duty to make sure my fellow Spartans rock the polls on November 8th.
After these countless hours, I've noticed a few things about the dynamics (and behaviors) of students when you engage them in political action. To be short: We all care a little more than the media, our parents, and our teachers make it seem.
Millennials now make up the largest part of the electorate - that being said, we can essentially make or break this upcoming election and our voices will decide who the next President will be. With nearly 20.5 million college students enrolled in universities across the nation, and over 50,000 alone on my campus, if we were all to register and actually vote, we will change the world.
That being said, registering voters has been one of the most exciting, exhausting, and inspiring activities I've participated in. In the first few days of voter registration, it was a hit. Students didn't realize the strict MI voter laws (you have to vote in person your first time) or even that an election was on a Tuesday. Classes don't get cancelled for you to drive from East Lansing to Marquette to vote at home, for your information. First time voters, out of state students, and just about everyone else grabbed a clipboard to change their address so they could vote on campus. I was able to hear from hundreds of my fellow Spartans about why they thought it was essential to vote, especially with what is at stake in this Presidential election.
As I am working as a fellow for the Michigan Democratic Coordinated Committee, I was of course registering voters with the hope they would be willing to fill out a Clinton-Kaine ballot this fall, but I found that students were more willing to openly discuss their views and listen to what their peers had to say no matter who they supported. I repeat: College students wanted to talk about the candidates and their beliefs. Crazy, right? The conversations were typically calm, heartfelt, but remained passionate. I was amazed and so pleased to know that the engineering major across the road was terrified of poor race relations under a Trump administration. I was excited to know that the theatre major outside of the auditorium had been in D.C. when DOMA was overruled and she found out she was legally able to marry the woman she loved someday. I shared a campus with 50,000 students who were just as passionate about America as I am and we were able to put our beliefs on the table and openly discuss.
I guess what I'm trying to say here is that college students have a voice. We're passionate and we're a hell of a lot more informed than we're made out to be. Sure, we don't watch the nightly news or pick up a copy of the paper everyday, but we watch debates, and we spend the time researching the issues at stake and want to understand how we will change the future for our generation later on down the road and future generations who we will hand this nation off to.
With that being said, I encourage my fellow college students, as well as high school students who may be interested in politics to speak out, question, and create a dialogue with the people around you. If politicians can see that we as millennials can discuss and agree to disagree and still work together, then maybe our Congress would learn by example and be able to do the same. We have a voice - use it. Get out there, vote, and make this country a safe place for our LGBTQ+ communities. Make our Muslim brothers and sisters feel safe in their own country. Make sure women have the right to choose what to do with their own bodies. Vote.
