Stand Up, You're Rocking the Vote!

Young people in America are notorious for being apathetic about politics. There are numerous reasons as to why this may be. They may lack the will to register to vote or they don’t know which party to affiliate themselves with. They may simply not care and don’t want to take the time to research the candidates. They may feel as though their vote won’t make a difference or they don’t like any of the candidates. In college in particular, it’s easy to get caught up in campus life and be completely unaware of everything that is going on with political campaigns. This article explores the various views of voting that Ursinus College students embody.

Sophomore English major Gianna Paone is not registered to vote. She has a lot of strong viewpoints about what needs to change in the American government. However, she doesn’t want to affiliate herself with a party, and, under PA law, only those registered under a party may vote in the primaries. Paone worries that she may find herself affiliated with a candidate whose views she may not fully support. She doesn’t want to vote and then regret her decision. However, she does plan to register to vote over the summer in time for the fall election. She thinks that her vote will make a difference because if everyone in the world thought their vote didn’t count, the results would be different. “At least, that’s what my teachers are telling me,” she adds. She doesn’t know who she’s going to vote for as of yet. Paone feels that the war in Iraq needs to end ASAP and that both abortion and the death penalty should be done away with. She wants stricter laws on gun control, “which none of the politicians seem to be prioritizing” and a way to resolve the national debt “by means other than massively taxing Americans.”

Senior Business & Economics major Eric Rembert is also not registered to vote. He says that he doesn’t really care about voting. However, he adds that if he were home in New Jersey he would have voted. He had a chance to watch the debate between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, and that sparked an interest in the Democratic Party. However, he’s unsure about who he would vote for in the primary. He’s passionate about creating enough jobs for everyone. “I do feel my vote will make a difference, and I promise to vote in New Jersey in November.”

Senior Psychology major Brittany Fernandez is registered to vote in Florida, and she sent in her absentee ballot to make her voice heard. She said that she voted for Obama because “he’s the candidate that can bring the country together…we’re the United States; we can’t be divided.”

For most college students, this is their first chance to vote in a presidential election. They may not be taking the primary election seriously, but they do realize the importance of the election. It is all it’s cracked up to be.