With the upcoming voter registration deadline Tuesday, now is the time to become politically engaged. With increased voter turnout, young voters can show they care about politics and actually want their voice to be heard. While issues like Social Security and Medicare are important, young Americans won’t have to confront these for quite some time. In fact, it’s not just far off in terms of years: Many young people think it’s irrelevant to them because these programs likely won’t be around when they are older. Despite this, decisions made by politicians enter every facet of our lives, whether the impact is direct or not. According to a poll conducted by USA Today and Rock the Vote, “Only a third say they’re likely to vote in the Republican primaries. Four in 10 say they’re likely to vote in the Democratic primaries. Six in 10 say they are likely to vote in November.”
Issues like shorter sentences for nonviolent offenders, refugees, body cameras and renewable energy matter to young voters. Different issues are important to different groups of voters: While for those nearing retirement Medicare and Social Security might be the most pressing issues, young people have more broad social concerns. As a voting bloc, we can hold a lot of sway in the upcoming election, as young voters did in 2008 when Barack Obama was elected.
Voter turnout is embarrassingly low, especially when stakes on the issues — whether it’s abortion, pay gap, gun control or even rising tuition costs — have never been higher. These are issues that everyone on both sides of the political spectrum have opinions on, and it’s disingenuous to expect that young non-voters don’t feel strongly on these issues. As current university students go into the workforce, it’s going to be important whether we can pay off student debt, or if we’ll have the capacity to negotiate our salaries. Not voting represents a waste of the voice that you have. Depending on who you vote for, you are either prioritizing an unlimited interpretation of the Second Amendment or gun control, a pro-choice or pro-life stance, a single-payer health care system or an expansion of the Affordable Care Act. Although it’s great to have an opinion on political issues, not voting means not expressing that opinion in any meaningful way. Legislators don’t decide what they do based on Facebook posts — they do it based on polling of the people who actually vote. Young voters can make themselves matter to politicians by just showing up to the polls.
Not only does this have implications for national politics, but it also affects our campus. Last Spring, just under 13,000 people voted — an extremely low number compared to enrollment at UF. Yet almost everyone on campus has an opinion about the kinds of issues that Student Government decides, such as which library should be open 24/5 and where their fees should go.
Both types of low voter turnout can be traced back to cynicism — people believe they should just accept the system as it is, and they have low impact on it. But this is a self-fulfilling prophecy. If people believe their votes aren’t important and translate their apathy into abstaining from voting, they cannot have an impact. Accepting things the way they are will never make things change. The only way to make things change is to become an informed voter and actually show up on Election Day.
Nicole Dan is a UF political science sophomore. Her column runs on Mondays.
