Listen, young voters. There's no denying it. We dropped the ball big time when it comes to Bernie Sanders. Sure, we reblogged and retweeted to our hearts content, made memes galore, and took to the streets in our Bernie sweatshirts, smartphones in hand. But when it comes down to the primary results, the demographic that is majorly favoring Bernie Sanders isn't pulling the weight they need to. We are proving Hillary and Trump supporters right when they say that we are lazy and won't actually be willing to be part of the political process. It's chilling (not the kind of chilling we like to do) to see how the political revolution we have been fighting for is falling short because of us. Even though it seems easier to push it on the television networks that don't give Bernie proper media coverage, we only have ourselves to blame. Besides, when was the last time any of us actually thought anything on the cable news networks was more established than what we read on our feeds from political analysts and the candidates themselves? We are a smart generation, and we know where to look for the facts. There's a reason we haven't been as supportive as we planned, and there's also a way to change it before we are faulted with Bernie losing the Democratic nomination. So here, fellow young maybe-first-time voters, I will break it down and help you out.
So, I've grown up in this generation long enough to know there is some truth to the term "the now generation." We like to know that things are going to happen as we want them too, and we have the privilege to know that our food is on the way, our movies are at our fingertips and we can 1-click checkout on Amazon. Though a political revolution isn't a new concept for America, it's a new concept to us. There is no 1-click win for Bernie Sanders; no retweet in the world can secure him a spot in the White House. And I'm not saying we aren't able to wrap our heads around the idea that we are going to have to work hard for this nomination. We know how to work hard, but we've been prioritizing everything but the most important aspect: Voting.
We need to get to the primaries and vote, which seems to be the biggest hurdle for the young demographic, although it is the most crucial part of the nomination process! Bernie Sanders supporters seem to outnumber the other nominees in both parties when at rallies and marches, but there is a knot in the tie between the support outside the polls and the support inside. Many might blame this on overall confusion for registration. Many young voters may have closed primary states and want to vote Bernie but are registered Independent. Although many people want to get involved in politics, they might feel like it's uninviting. (Fear not young people, not every aspect of politics is as violent as a Donald Trump rally.)
Registering to vote is actually really simple if you abide by the March 25th deadline. For example, today outside of Queens College there were several people registering students, and staff was there to help make the process more inviting and less overwhelming. If you register as a Democrat in your state by the deadline date, you will be able to vote for Bernie. We can still do this if we put our most minimal effort in, take 15 minutes out of our days, and vote.
Now for those who would like to go a step farther, there are volunteer efforts you can join to remind your fellow residents to go out and vote. There's phone-banking, which can be done at home or at a phone-bank party. This consists of you calling people around the United States who are about to vote in the primary and helping them to know how exactly to get to their polling center and/or how to vote. You can ask them if they are voting Bernie, though the process usually doesn't include persuading people to vote for a certain candidate. Along with this, you can Face-bank on Facebook, or simply remind your friends to vote. We can all help each other out; this fight is not over.
Even with this, people still think, "it's over, Bernie has lost so many primaries." What they don't realize though, is that Bernie's strongest states are yet to come. We just need to all persevere because it is a political revolution.
When have those ever been easy?
