Voting is one of those things that’s recently come back into vogue, like ‘80s-inspired outfits or tiny sunglasses. After years of depressingly low voter turnout in nearly every election, the most recent midterm elections in 2018 set new records for turnout, especially among young people. There’s a reason for this: politics are more important than ever, touching the most intimate and influential aspects of our lives on a daily basis. People under 30 have taken up the mantle of change, demanding action on everything from the crushing student loan debt crisis to the gun violence epidemic to the looming threat of climate change. As if all of that isn’t enough, here are five reasons you should take a few minutes to register to vote today.
You want a say in the policies governing your body and health.
Even if you are lucky enough to have a good healthcare plan through your family or your school, you should still consider that there are a lot of old white men deciding what you can and cannot do with your own body. Trans and other LGBTQ people are under frequent attack by legislators who want to deny them basic healthcare. Women (and everyone with a uterus) are constantly under threat by men who don’t think women should make their own reproductive choices. Basically, if you like having doctors and their patients be responsible for healthcare decisions and not completely medically untrained state legislators, you should register to vote. Research who is running to be your representative in the state legislature and make sure they stand for reproductive rights and the rights of all people (women, LGBTQ people, and everyone else) to make their own decisions about their bodies. Check if that candidate supports access to healthcare for everyone, rather than just those lucky enough to afford the high costs.
You like having a habitable planet.
It’s a fact: the climate is changing. Despite the elected officials who pretend their Harvard and Princeton degrees didn’t teach them basic science, we are living in a scientifically proven era of rapid and dangerous climate change. However, all hope is not lost. It is up to voters to demand action from their elected officials and to choose candidates who will aggressively pursue environmental protection. Search for candidates in your voting district who support measures such as carbon taxes which punish corporations who have a serious environmental impact. Other measures, such as government investment into green energy or regulation of industries like oil, manufacturing, mining and fishing, do serious damage to the environment. Florida is under particular threat: much of the state is below sea level and highly hurricane-prone, meaning that rising ocean levels and increasingly massive hurricanes will threaten human existence in the state. Gainesville may not have oceanfront property now, but if we do nothing, the beach will come to us. (I know this sounds good, but I promise, it would be very, very bad.) Our generation is the one which will bear the brunt of climate change. It’s up to us to get up, register to vote and demand real accountability and change.
You know your vote matters A LOT.
The electoral system of the United States is, in a word, strange. In an attempt to prevent the uneducated 18th-century population from making bad political decisions, the founding fathers tried to add what they thought would be a failsafe to our presidential election process: the Electoral College.
However, due to demographic changes and the fact that the American population is no longer made up of mostly illiterate farmers, the Electoral College is now a thoroughly outdated institution. It gives states with the smallest and least diverse populations a huge advantage in presidential elections. But until we fix our messed-up Electoral College system, focus on the smaller races. Your local, city, county and state elections have a huge impact on the way you live and they don’t rely on the Electoral College. In fact, these elections could determine everything from the minimum wage in your area to public transportation to your rent. These more local races lack the flashiness of a nationwide presidential campaign, but they likely impact your day-to-day existence more than any president will.
This election is likely to decide the path our country will take over the next several decades.
Political “experts” say it all the time: every election is the most important one in our lifetimes. But this time, it’s kind of true. There are a lot of major crises facing the world and the U.S. right now–climate change, cybersecurity, rising dictatorships, demographic shifts and mass migration, to name a few. The U.S. president has a lot of power in managing alliances, starting and ending wars and helping to fight against climate change. Therefore, whoever the U.S. president is during the next decade will be absolutely essential to tackling the problems of the 21st century. This is the election in which voters will decide what’s important: do we want universal healthcare? Green energy? Equality for everyone? Reduced or canceled student loan debt? Registering to vote will allow you to participate in these essential decisions which will determine the path for not just Americans, but people around the world.
You know that informed voting is an essential part of living in a democracy.
At the end of the day, voting is a right and a privilege. Being an active and informed voter is just as much a part of true adulthood as filing a tax return or meal prepping. You are one of the lucky one-third of the world that lives in a true, functioning democracy–take advantage. Don’t leave your future up to people who don’t have your best interest at heart. Privilege is real and even if it seems like your vote doesn’t matter or that the issues at hand aren’t important enough, people will face real consequences if young people continue to be complacent and apathetic about politics. You may not know where to start and that’s ok: there are tons of great resources out there that will teach you the basics of government (check out Her Campus UFL’s IG story series “Civics Lesson”) and give you a clear understanding of the issues. Try taking a political alignment test like this one to learn about your own preferences and use local newspapers and websites to get to know local, state and federal candidates.