If you have been keeping up with the political news, you would be aware that Ted Cruz and John Kasich dropped out of the Republican race to become president, or that Bernie Sanders is catching up to Hillary Clinton. Regardless of your political affiliation, you are standing before a pool of rich political information.
“This year, the youth turnout for both parties in the primaries so far is rivaling 2008, the year of Barack Obama’s first campaign.” This quote is an example of how talking about an issue can lead to wanting a solution. In the political lens of today's article, the solution is for more youth voters to go out and vote against or for an issue. Facebook, for example has become an easy tool for youth voters to express their thoughts on political candidates and political issues that may affect them on a personal level. As a Facebook user you can post videos, memes, articles, pictures, etc., and in a matter of seconds, and it can be viewed by hundreds of people. Now people can express their feelings towards your post with comments, likes and the new emoji update. Not only can you post on Facebook, you can also use Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram and all other media outlets.
As this pool gets bigger, political candidates and political parties are using these same outlets to reach out to the general public, particularly the young voters. Why, you may ask, do they want to reach out to the young voters? Young voters use the internet as a source of communication more than any other age group. They are also the same group that believe that “our votes do not count” when, in reality, they do. The amount of voters that vote in their state determine the amount of delegates the presidential candidate wins and the more representation they have in the electoral college. Although you (the reader) may be one person in a population of a billion, remember every human being has a voice. In this article, your voice is the ability to vote. Registering to vote only takes around five minutes, and you can do it online.
The pool of political information is getting bigger and better the closer the general election approaches. As a young voter, there are a lot of ways you can participate, but as the writer I ask you my reader: are you ready to jump in and take part in this national event? Or would you like to start off with dipping your toe in this pool and seeing what you can do to let your voice be heard in this political event?
