by Ayla McDonald
In light of the upcoming 2018 General Elections, a problem being faced in the US is the decision being made by many millennials not to vote.
According to pewresearch.org, a nonpartisan public information source for social science research, “an estimated 62 million Millennials (adults ages 20 to 35 in 2016) were voting-age U.S. citizens… Millennials comprised 27% of the voting-eligible population in 2016.”
But according to pewresearch.org, this percentage can only represent potential votes and not actual ones.
“While the growth in the number of Millennials who are eligible to vote underscores the potential electoral clout of today’s young adults, Millennials remain far from the largest generational bloc of actual voters. It is one thing to be eligible to vote and another thing to actually cast a ballot.”
sparks political controversy.
The problem of millennials choosing to not participate in voting has even become apparent on a local level within the Parkland College community.
A recent question was posed to students by librarians on the whiteboard of the Parkland Library, asking: “Will you vote? Why or why not?”. The question has sparked a controversial discussion between many students who, anonymously, give very contrasting answers. A number of familiar hot button political issues were raised in the Library on a variety of opinions ranging from environmental conservation efforts to women’s rights.
The whiteboard conversation brought to light the political polarization that is present in our country and even on an immediate level within our own local community.
Most striking however was the apparent disagreement between students on whether or not it is necessary to vote.
To try to answer the question of who will or will not be voting in the upcoming General Elections and to understand why they will choose to do so or not, The Prospectus decided to consult student voices on the Parkland College campus.
Grant Clark, an 18-year-old commuting student from Leroy, IL studying Computer Science at Parkland College, said “I have principles against voting. We live in a state of 12.8 million people. I’m a single person, my vote won’t count. As long as I live near Chicago my vote is not going to matter.” Even so, Clark said that he will vote in the upcoming General Election because of his mother’s value system. “I will vote if I can register because my mom wants me to,” Clark said. “My mother believes that voting is a privilege we’ve been granted and that we should utilize that privilege.”
Maritza Rodriguez, a 19-year-old student from Urbana, IL studying Nursing at Parkland College, has registered to vote and says that she will vote.
“I feel like it’s important for everyone to vote,” Rodriguez said. “Every vote makes a difference. If we don’t vote we won’t have a say in our own government.”
A student who wished to remain anonymous said that he will not vote because he doesn’t know enough about politics surrounding the General Election to make an informed decision. “I would vote if I felt educated enough about who and what I’d be voting for,” the student said.
When asked what they see as preventing the majority of millennials from voting, the students answered that the problems are generational ones.
“Millennials don’t tend to act if there is no reward at the end of an action,” Rodriguez said. “I feel like a lot of millennials don’t care about the voting situation. I think it’s probably misplaced values when it comes to voting; there are a lot of things competing for young people’s attention these days. Maybe more people would vote if they had more time to do so.”
The student who wished to remain anonymous also commented on the attention of millennials.
“Millennials have short attention spans – there have actually been studies on that,” the student said. To address this problem the student suggested that political media “could take main issues that would directly affect millennials and plaster them everywhere in an attempt to catch their attention. Maybe millennials would be more likely to pay attention to issues that immediately affect us.”
To find information about voting and registering to vote in Champaign County, see the Prospectus article “How to Stay Informed About Voting” by Reporter Paul Benson.