Why You Need To Vote (18-29-Year-Olds)

There is a lot of pessimism around voting in America.  Our electoral college, winner take all system, and gerrymandering mean that if you are not voting with the majority, your vote feels like it doesn’t count at all.  In fact, the past 3 republican presidents have all won the electoral college but lost the popular vote.

That can be really disheartening, and it begins to feel like voting is just screaming into the void.

But voting is really important, especially if you are young.  

Ageism In Voting

We don’t like to think that people would intentionally vote in a way that hurts us, but that is unfortunately the reality.  The largest voting blocks determine where the country is going and each block votes selfishly.  That is just reality.

Right now most voters are older.  Only around 35% of eligible 18-29-year-olds voted in the 2018 election.  Compare that to 65% of the over 60 crowd and you can see how the older voters skew the vote.  

If you want to protect your future, you need to vote.  The elderly won’t protect your interests, they will protect their own at your expense.  America sees everything as a zero-sum game right now.  That means there are winners and losers, instead of everyone winning.  I’ve found that to be a very Boomer and older mindset.  The only way to change that is to vote, and until everyone does we will be the losers. 

Ballot Issues

I’m not going to lie, our system sucks.  Our winner takes all system has pushed us into the position of having to choose the better of two bad options.  Every election is like that.  

Every. Single. One. (Check this out if you want to understand why)

But it won’t change if we don’t vote for it to change.  Which is why ballot issues are so very important.

Oh, did I mention voting is about more than just voting for representatives?

Where we can actually make change is by voting on ballot issues.  Ballot issues are laws going to the public for adjudication.  Usually, they are local and state laws that the representatives are looking for a yes/no approval on.  

Issues like getting rid of daylight savings time, and making weed legal, were recent California ballot issues.  

Make sure you really research the ballot issues before you vote.  The wording on them can be confusing so really read and look into the ballot issues so you know that you voted the way you wanted to.

The Supreme Court

When considering who you want to vote for, it is vital to keep the supreme court in mind.

The president nominates a supreme court candidate and the Senate confirms them.  They are on the supreme court for life.  

The supreme court decides if laws are actually constitutional.  They determine how the constitution is interpreted and basically determine how laws and policies affect your daily life.

Because of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death, this is possibly the most important election for the next 30 years.  If the conservatives stack the court with a supermajority (they already have a majority) we will likely see a rollback on personal rights by up to 50 years.  And it will be another 30 years before we can make progress again.

That means we can potentially kiss the following rights goodbye: woman’s reproductive rights, LGBTQ rights, citizens’ rights over companies, internet freedom, personal privacy from companies, protection for the environment, student rights, and minority rights.

If any of that sounds bad to you, you might want to seriously consider if you want Trump to have another term.

Voting for the person, not the issue

A lot of Americans vote based on a single issue.  That is a recipe for disaster.  If you only vote on a single issue, you could wind up voting for someone who agrees with you on, say abortion, but wants to systematically strip a system you actually use.  At the end of their term, you could have what you wanted on that one issue, but that program you were actually relying on is gone costing you thousands.

Look at the whole person as much as possible.  Consider all the issues that affect your life and the lives of those you love, and then evaluate the candidate’s opinion on those issues.  If you find a candidate that matches your ideas a majority of the time, that is who you should vote for.  Even if they don’t agree with you on that one issue.

With the way our Congress acts now, you just want someone who projects your interests a majority of the time.  Any super extreme views you don’t like probably won’t make much headway.  I mean no one is really getting along and it takes forever to get any legislation passed.  

Vote for the future

We have already discussed how older people are more likely to vote.  That means the majority of voters are interested in protecting the interests of the elderly.

They are going to prioritize things like medicare, social security, and keeping the feel of America the same as when they grew up.  They don’t particularly care if it means destroying the planet or making it impossible for you to buy a house.  Your future isn’t in their voting calculus.  They only care about the next few years.

But you, a younger voter, you care about whether you can still breathe the air when you are 60.  You care about the long term health of the country and economy.  

So think about what a candidate is doing and how it will affect the long term health of the environment and economy.  If you don’t get involved, if you don’t vote, you are relying on your parents and grandparents caring enough about your future to vote in your interests.  

Get Registered

Ready to vote?  Get registered as soon as possible and ask for a mail-in ballot if that is an option.  Mail-in ballots let you take your time filling them out.  So you can sit with your ballot in front of the computer and look up every candidate and ballot issue to make an informed decision.

Find out how to get registered in your state here.

The soul of our country is at stake, so please, please vote.  Not voting is no longer an option.