Election Day is almost here, and I know I'm not the only one looking forward to it being over.
Sadly, elections are a time I used to look forward to. In fact, I even once compared it to the excitement of Christmas. I’m one of what seems to be very few people of my age group that follows politics passionately and always exercises my right to vote.
The first election that I somewhat remember was 2000. I didn’t yet understand what hanging chads or Electoral Colleges were, but I remember the seemingly long wait to determine who the next president would be.
Through my high school years, I was able to meet and interact with numerous politicians of both political parties of local and state government.
In 2007, my parents and I visited my sister, who was living in Alabama at the time, for Thanksgiving. To avoid the Black Friday chaos, we decided to instead travel over to Plains, Georgia to tour the hometown of former President Jimmy Carter.
It's amazing to realize that a town with less than 800 citizens, filled only by pine trees and peanut farms bred a man who went on to become the 39th President of the United States.
If that wasn't inspiring enough, when we stuck around that evening to enjoy the town's parade and tree lighting, Jimmy and Rosalynn happened to be attending as well. Once the evening's events concluded, the former President and First Lady greeted townsfolk before getting into their vehicle. Just before the door was closed, my sister shouted out "Mr. President," and he climbed back out of his car to talk with and take a photo with the two of us.
There’s an interesting impact of meeting politicians of such caliber so early in life.
Following that, my love of politics reached a new height by the 2008 election. I was not yet old enough to vote, but I developed a true interest in and passion for politics. I tuned into every debate, wrote term papers on election history and arguments of political issues.
On the evening of Nov. 4, my parents and I sat before the television to watch the election results. I had a blank map of the U.S. on which I colored in each state as it was called and kept count of each candidate’s delegates. I was disappointed to have not been able to cast my vote in that presidential election, though fate made up for it four years later.
Throughout college, I enrolled in several political science courses, far beyond the credits required for my coursework. I met and interviewed our state’s lieutenant governor, congressmen and U.S. Senator through various internships.
By 2012, not only was I old enough to vote, but I had the opportunity to play a real role in the election campaigns.
I was lucky enough to be living in Ohio that fall, a battleground state that both candidates aggressively tackled. Being a liberal university town, Athens was visited by both President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, and I was fortunate to have covered both for the publication I was working for at the time.
That election season was a highlight for me, both personally and professionally. Being a part of the White House Press Pool is a milestone that few journalists get to experience, much less so early in their career.
I was so inspired by those events, that I decided to do more than just vote in the election. I volunteered my time to do canvassing and speak with other college students regarding who they planned to vote for and why it is so important to exercise that right.
Once again I crowded around the television on election night, this time with fellow classmates, and I can now say that watching your county be called for your candidate is an incredibly satisfying feeling. I’ve yet to experience that same feeling of playing a vital role in our nation’s politics.
In fact, I’ve yet to experience any feeling of excitement for this year’s political races, despite my love for politics. At first I blamed it on the fact that I no longer live in a battleground state, that my vote will just be one of many without the power to truly change the election’s outcome. But in sharing with friends and family, I’ve found I’m not the only one.
Rather than feeling excitement through the final weeks of the election season, I instead can’t wait for the election to be over. I understand that many adults feel this sense of apathy every four years, but it’s not something that I ever saw myself feeling.
I miss the passion of politics and hope that it returns to our election cycle in the near future.
