“Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”
-John F. Kennedy
We are told that it is our civic duty to vote in all elections for our government. We are told that this is what makes our country great. Democracy was the founding principal of our country; we have always had the ability to choose our leaders, and though corrupt politics still exists, we still have a great deal of control about who represents us on a local, state and national scale.
The 2016 presidential election is expected to be one of the most interesting elections to date. For the next election we have a woman running (who actually has enough power and support to be a viable candidate). Similarly, there is a Jewish man running, who has been sweeping the nation garnering support in huge numbers from young voters; a Bush, hoping to be the third Bush to sit in the Oval Office; a billionaire who owns one of the largest real estate monopolies in America … You can probably guess who these candidates are just based off these descriptions: Hillary Rodham Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Jeb Bush, and Donald Trump.
But were you aware that the Democratic party has three other candidates running and five potential candidates? That the Republican party has 12 other candidates, with two potentials? Did you know that there is also a third-party candidate by the name of Jill Stein running?
The reason I ask these questions is because we, as college students, are the next generation of voters. The decision is in our hands and studies have shown that American adults ages 25 and under are some of the most uninformed people in the country when it comes to politics. When we are uninformed and uneducated, we tend to go with popular opinion, or agree with something that we may have heard only a small portion of without knowing the bigger picture. Here is all you need to know about how our president is elected, and why it is so important to be informed and to vote!
The Electoral College
Many times young adults will think that their vote does not count; that politics is too big, too corrupt and too complex for their voice to be heard. This is just not true. In our country there is the Electoral College, which is the method used to elect the president. Here is a brief explanation on how the Electoral College works.
To many people this sounds like “only a few people are actually electing the president. Why should I bother voting?” The Electoral College is predominantly based on a “winner takes all” system, meaning that the electors from a certain state will represent the candidate who had the largest amount of citizen votes in that state. For example, if the majority of Texas’ citizens voted for George W. Bush, the electors are expected to vote for George W. Bush based on the popular opinion of the state. The way the electors are chosen and the laws they must follow vary from state to state. One vote has the ability to change the minority into the majority. One vote can change the outcome of who your state represents in the election! If you would like to find out more about the electoral college, please visit.
Most people think that the presidential elections in November are the most important elections, but I personally disagree. True, in November we decide who will run our country based on the candidates that we selected in the primary elections, but it is in the primary elections that we have the opportunity to select the candidates that we want to be in the November elections.
The primary elections are held anywhere from six months to 10 months before the final presidential elections in November. This year the New York Primary Elections are on April 19th! If you live in another state, please visit to see when your elections will be held. It is crucial to vote in the primary elections!
This is the moment where we get to show our favorite candidate our support by boosting them into the final elections. If we don’t vote for our candidates in the primaries, they are not going to even be in the running to become president the following November.
Many people disregard the primary elections as trivial, or a waste of time. But by the time they vote in November, some voters will not like the candidates they have to choose from. This is because that candidate did not make it past the primary elections. It is true that if a candidate is not selected by the Democratic or Republican party, they have the option of running as an Independent, as Donald Trump said he would do in the upcoming elections. To be considered as a viable independent candidate, however, you must have great support both financially and in the population. The independent party is one of the most difficult to run in, and many times you will never hear about the candidates in this party because they simply do not have the funds to compete with the larger two parties.
If you are not sure if you are registered to vote, or you would like to know where to vote, please visit.
The 2016 Candidates
This site is AMAZING! It gives you clear and easy to understand information on all of the candidates running for the 2016 elections. You can easily compare and contrast candidates to see how the platforms change from person to person, and from party to party. If you don’t feel like heading over to that site though, here is a cool chart that give you some basic comparisons on the candidates! (this chart is interactive)
It’s also always good to keep an eye on sites like CNN or BBC to keep up to date on the most current political activity. Choosing a news network to follow can be somewhat difficult, as there are many far right, far left, and moderate papers, blogs, networks, etc., but there are some good sources out there. Below is a chart from Business Insider showing some of the most trusted and distrusted networks out there, but be aware that there are disputes between some ideological groups over the trustworthiness of some of these networks.
Voting is our constitutional right. Our government is the example numerous countries have built their governments off of. We have gone to war in the name of Democracy, in the name of freedom. We were given the freedom to choose our leaders by a group of rebels fighting for their right to live independently back in 1776. Our Constitution states
“-That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”
We have the power to change our country. We have the power to make our government listen to us. Don’t lose your voice because you are afraid it won’t be heard. Don’t sit complacently with something you don’t like when you have the opportunity to change it. Take the power that was given to you by our founding fathers and vote for the people that you want to represent you on a global front. You have the power … now get informed and use it.