“College campuses across America are buzzing with debate in anticipation of the 2016 presidential election,” said no one ever.
In fact, according to statistics, the majority of students don’t plan to vote this fall. Youth are far more likely to tweet about their opinions than actually show up to the polls to act on them. CNBC reported that only 44% of the population aged 18-24 voted in the 2008 election, a number that dropped further in 2012 with a 38% turnout. These numbers reflect the youth population’s disinterest in the political system, even though they are the ones who will either reap the benefits or pay the price for the outcome because they will outlive those running for election. The Iowa caucus results demonstrate that the youth vote is more critical than ever this year. CNBC even predicts this to be a “historical” election.
The reasons why college students should vote this year outweigh any excuse for forgoing their rights on election day. The most obvious reason to vote is that EVERY vote really does count. With Hillary Clinton’s razor-thin victory over Bernie Sanders in the Iowa caucus, this simple fact is as true as it’s ever been. The two are now tied 1-1 after Sanders swept the New Hampshire primary. Sanders’ call for a political revolution is inspiring passionate Democrats, but Clinton maintains her edge as a female candidate.
Meanwhile, outsider candidate Donald Trump took the Republican win in New Hampshire, surprising many. The extreme diversity of this year’s candidates may cause the race to be long and tedious, keeping America on its toes for the months to come. The outcome of this election will have important ramifications for millennials, including the future of student loans. College education is becoming increasingly expensive, and a strong youth turnout might help determine the economic future of many of today’s young people. Students are graduating with mountains of debt, so it’s important to choose a candidate who will heed the call for subsidized education.
In addition, voting is the best and perhaps the only way to have one’s voice heard on today’s major issues. Matters such as the legalization of marijuana, abortion, same-sex marriage, climate change, minimum wage laws and potentially even war will face our political leaders. It is becoming more and more apparent that Millennials can make or break the future of the nation with this election. Today’s youth are the most racially diverse group in our nation’s history, so their opinions give a voice to a wide range of needs.
“If you started the voting age at age 30, governor Mitt Romney would be president today,” says Alex Smith, the National Chairman of the Republican College National Committee. “That is how impactful our generation was in deciding a whole course of a presidential election.”
Presidential candidates are running neck-in-neck in the 2016 race and it’s difficult to predict who will secure the party nominations. In fact, a great deal of discussion has taken place centering on whether college students should vote in their university towns or cast an absentee ballot in their hometowns. With the population loss of so many students, some rural areas may fail to deliver crucial results to candidates on the borderline.
Legally, the choice belongs to individuals, but it’s important to consider where one’s vote will count the most. A website called countmore.org can help out-of-state students choose where to vote. The voter simply selects their college state and home state, and the site will show which state the vote will most impact based on the last election’s number of votes, margin of victory, and number of electoral votes.
Given the uncertainty of the upcoming election, we can be sure that college students will play a key role in determining the outcome. Not only do young people’s votes matter due to their diversity and numbers, they will feel the effect of the election in every aspect of their lives as they enter into adulthood. Only time will tell if youth will rally this year and make their voices heard at the polls, or simply choose to blow up their social media feeds with angry and ultimately pointless opinions. The closeness of this year’s election is a call for action in this historical election.
