Opinion: Young people can have a voice in this election
As young people, we will be affected by the 2020 election the most. Some of our upperclassmen can vote and help change this country, like senior Isabelle Figarelli. She believes voting is a very important and scary event, and that as an 18-year-old she holds so much power with her decision.
“The fact that it determines our future is the scariest part,” she said. “The fact that it’s so vital to the way our world will be perceived is scary, the fact that I’m 18 and I have to choose who will run my country is scary. Obviously, not everyone will have 100 percent the same beliefs and morals as you, but when it’s your country’s leader, you have more to worry about than your next-door neighbor. it’s so important and necessary because these people go down in history for good or for bad reasons.”
Typically, less than half of younger Americans actually vote. In the 2016 presidential election, people ages 18-29 had a voter turnout of 46.1 percent, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. In 2012, their turnout was 45 percent.
Not every upperclassman has this power to vote yet. Some of us have to put trust in the next president whoever that might be because we don’t have that opportunity to choose who we want right now. Like senior Jose Espindola, who can’t vote yet, and who is upset that he will be affected by the choices of others and not his own decision.
“People ask us what we think, but we can’t do anything about it,” Espindola said. “And then the ones who can vote for laws and presidents who will affect my future the most and probably only affect them for 20 years.”
As young people, many of us need to come to terms of not being able to vote in this election no matter how important it is, and find other ways to voice our opinions and other ways to help improve this country together.
And for the youth who can vote, take your new right as something important. You are the new age of power. In Illinois we offer online voting registration. You have to be 17 on or before the primary election and be 18 on or before the general election to vote.
