In our current political climate, voting is important for me as a young adult, especially a young black adult. People have been saying to me for years that my ancestors struggled for years to give me the right vote, and, that out of respect, I should vote, because there was a time in history when I couldn’t. For months, I’ve been seeing posters and posts telling me to go vote– that my vote matters, and sometimes I think ‘Does my vote actually matter?’.
I live in a state that is traditionally Republican, and while I personally align with the party, if I voted for anything other than the GOP would it matter? I’m not sure because my voting alone won’t change the outcome of the state. This dilemma of whether I should vote or not has been on my mind for weeks.
Another issue I have is that I have never been into politics, and I usually don’t like making major decisions with prior knowledge. When it comes to this current election, I’ve only heard hearsay on policies that both parties believe in and have not seen them in writing with my own eyes. I have also seen all the debates, and neither party gave adequate responses to some important questions. I understand it’s my responsibility to look that up, but it is also both parties’ responsibility to make them understandable for all populations, which I felt neither has done; and, for me to go out of my way to look up policies that I can’t even begin to understand is hard, to say the least. Plus, I’d rather vote informed than non-informed, because I feel as though that is just as bad as not voting at all.
I went to vote with my dad, because he was excited to vote with his firstborn, but I was anxious. I wanted to vote, but I was also scared to make the wrong decision and make a decision based on other people. But, as I mentioned earlier, as a young black adult and a black woman I needed to vote, because it’s my responsibility to keep making strides politically and socially by voting for my people and those who are like me but cannot vote.