With the presidential election as well as elections for other offices coming up, it is very important to cast a vote. Voting is the only way that the average person can have a say in the way the government is run. Voting was designed so that anyone can have a say in the government, and we have certainly come a long way from then. For example, there was a time when African Americans could not vote. There was a time when women could not vote. There was a time when constituents had to pay a tax to vote. Now, in states like Texas, voter ID laws are preventing people from casting their votes. Luckily, it is fairly simple to vote in New York state. The only leaves one problem: millennials aren’t voting.
Whether it be because they are not registering, or they simply are not showing up to the polls, millennials are not using their chance to have a say in how the government operates, both statewide and nationwide. According to statistics from NYPIRG, New York Public Interest and Research Group, the voting bloc of 18 to 25 year-olds makes up the lowest voting demographic in the state, and legislators are taking advantage of that. Tuition has been raised by $300 per year for the past five years. That amounts to a grand total of $1500 in tuition hikes, however, Millennials have a chance to make amends to that by voting.
Organizations like NYPIRG are mobilizing voters on both a statewide and nationwide level, and such mobilization has yielded results. One quite significant result of petitions, lobbying, and Higher Education Action Day is that SUNY tuition has been frozen for one year. This happened almost directly as the result of the actions of students, namely millennials, and it proves that the millennial vote does, in fact, have an impact on the legislators either elected or reelected.
The point being made here, is that the millennial vote is every bit as important as the rest of the votes, if not more important, for millennials have all the more to lose. With student loan debt piling up, this is the time for millennials to cast their votes, make a difference, and make things better not only for themselves but for future generations as well. With so much at stake this year, it is more important than ever that everyone makes their way to their local polling places and casts their votes.
