The Importance of Gen Z Voting
The right to vote is often seen as one of the foundational aspects of American democracy. Turning 18 in this country can be seen as a rite of passage, a chance to participate in the political landscape and have one’s voice heard in a way it never had been before up until that point. For anyone who wasn’t a white, land-owning man, the right to vote was also not guaranteed and was hard-won by activists constantly pushing for suffrage. On social media, young people appear to be incredibly tuned in to the goings on of politics, and young people are being radicalized to want to push for change by social media influencers and celebrities spreading one very common mantra: Make sure you’re registered to vote!
Yet, voting rates for young people have historically been some of the lowest out of any other age demographic, which is puzzling and troubling, especially with the way the political landscape has shifted dramatically in recent decades to make each election feel like the most important one of all given what is at stake. In recent years, statistics of poor voter turnout from 18-29 year olds have slowly been shifting, with a notable 44% voting in 2022. It begs the question, though, why aren’t more young people voting if they’re constantly being told how important it is to vote and if they’re loud and active on social media about how much they want things in this country to change for the better? Why don’t more young people want to participate in the democratic process? Is there something more going on behind the scenes, is the issue deeper than young people simply just “not wanting to”?
One of the reasons could potentially be the obstacles many young people face to be able to vote in the first place. Many don’t know how to register because the process is confusing, many who are in college find it difficult to vote due to restrictions on how they can vote when they’re not in their permanent residence. Some might not be able to get off of work to be able to vote. The government has especially in recent years been working to suppress the vote in other insidious ways such as making it illegal for poll workers to hand out food and water to those waiting in extremely long lines at polling stations, intentionally attempting to drive away voters, while others institute unfair and discriminatory voting ID laws which force people in some states to have a valid, government-issued ID in order to cast their votes.
Gerrymandering is also a tactic used by some states in which district lines are incorrectly drawn to give one party a strategic advantage over the other during the voting process, stifling millions of voters, many of whom come from historically marginalized communities. In fact, many of these acts of suppression unfairly target marginalized communities; for example, 1 in 16 Black Americans cannot vote due to disenfranchisement laws, and 18% of voters with disabilities found it difficult to vote in 2020 due to their states enforcing strict and unreasonable policies surrounding mail-in ballots. With all of these restrictions and barriers, it’s no wonder voting is so difficult for anyone, including young people. Even just the notion of being able to vote when one turns 18 is currently being challenged, particularly by people like Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who has declared if he wins the presidency, he will raise the legal voting age to 25, along with a mandatory civics test to determine one’s eligibility to vote. Needless to say, voting rights for young people like members of Gen Z who predominantly skew left, are significantly under fire.
I can also personally see among young voters a distinct sense of apathy when it comes to voting. Many have adopted a sort of “doomerism” mentality, believing that voting ultimately achieves nothing, and so why should they participate at all when it’s meaningless to begin with? To this, I would implore young voters to consider that this is exactly what those who want to suppress the vote would hope. Voting may only be one stepping stone to political involvement, and it’s always a good thing to advocate for oneself and others in their communities, but advocacy unfortunately will only continue to ring hollow when there is no action put behind it. I myself know exactly how it feels to fall into that pit of apathy and wondering why any of it matters; but to that I also say that we should think about the people who fought so hard to give us these rights to vote in the first place. Voting mattered to them, because they were able to use that power to express their voices, and advocate for the changes they wanted to see in their nation, and make that nation a better place as they saw fit.
The introduction of women and the African American community into the voting process changed the nation in immeasurable ways, because they were able to decide how they wanted their government to work for them. Voting is the most direct way one can have their voice heard by their government, not just federally, but on a state and local level, and there is strength in numbers. If change feels impossible, just know that you have the capacity to be that change, and nothing is impossible, just as nothing is inevitable. There are no guarantees in life, and no change will come if no one works to make the change. Think of voting as a tool that allows one to become a stakeholder in the world. It is not the end all be all of political involvement, but it is a powerful step in the right direction. Some elections have been won with only a few hundred or thousand votes between candidates. The voices of young people could very well make some of the most important decisions of the coming decades, and that is not worthless in the slightest.
References:
