I would have been the first to say ignorance is bliss when it came to politics. I did not believe that there would be much of a difference made by stating your opinion on a matter of government, as when people usually spoke about politics, mass amounts of anger would pour out of their mouths. The younger me would associate politics with cynicism and hostility. It was not until fifth grade when Barack Obama ran for President that my attention to politics was spiked. My fifth-grade teacher Mrs. Douglas held a class election to see which candidate would win. To go further in the experiment, she pitched the election idea to the principal in order to have a school election.
This Was A Lightbulb Moment For Sure!
During the school election, all the fifth-grade students had a week to campaign for each candidate. When campaigning, we had to convince the students in kindergarten through fourth grade why our candidate was the right pick for the leader of the free world. My candidate Barack Obama won in my school election and in the United States election! From then on, I continuously had one ear in the political world.
The next time politics blurred the lines with the school would be in my senior year of high school. This election had the same amount of heat as when Obama ran. The only difference was, instead of race as the hot-button issue, gender was the target. The good ole Hilary Vs Donald. The number of nasty women and MAGA propaganda I saw at school should have been a sin. We all, unfortunately, know the outcome of that particular election. Unlike fifth grade, there were no mock elections and the consequences of the election would prove to be brutal for Americans in the years to come. Sadly I was just shy of half a month from legally voting in Georgia. Once I turned 18, I knew I would exercise my right to vote every time I got!
Hitting The Polls: My Experience
November 6, 2018, was the first Election Day I cast a ballot. I was over the moon excited and nervous. I even bought a statement tee from Levi’s to bring awareness to voting in the midterm election! I would wear that same tee just two years later for my first Presidental election.
This moment is now a full circle with the midterm election results and many fundamental rights residing on the ballot. Each election, I learn something new and why it is so important to vote especially in the local elections. Local politics set the stage for the national policies and players who make the decisions that affect our everyday lives!
hIGHLIGHTS FROM Midterm Elections 2022
*Georgia is having a runoff election on Dec. 6, which is very important because, with some congressional races still undecided, Republicans can gain the majority in the House of Representatives, enabling them to issue harmful legislation toward minorities.
Was your voice HEARD during the Midterms?