It’s “spooky season,” so let’s talk about something really scary: the last midterm’s voter turnout. In 2014, only 41.9% of Americans showed up, resulting in the lowest voter turnout since 1978 and, even worse, only 23.1% of Americans ages 18 to 34 (https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2015/cb15-122.html). Your vote in this year’s midterm truly matters if you’re passionate about women’s rights, LGBTQ rights and having men like Kavanaugh and Trump in power. To create change, Democrats would need to tilt both the House and Senate back in their direction. This year, all of the House seats and one-third of the Senate seats are up for re-election, but to win, Democrats would need to not only hold all their current seats but also win 23 additional seats in the House and 2 more in the Senate (https://www.theskimm.com/noexcuses/62C5rXVJ9mWKIYWIqWoiAW/Why-Vote).
via: ACLU
So what can you do right now? If you’re registered in North Carolina and have been living on campus for more than 30 days, you can vote early until November 3rd! Regardless of when and where you are voting, the best thing you can do is research. POLIS has a great website where you can explore the candidates on your ballot: https://sites.duke.edu/dukevotes/explore-your-ballot/. Encourage your friends. Spread the message of how important these midterms actually are. Vote. Vote. Vote.