Voting

Hello everyone and welcome back to my blog! I am so happy that you’re here. Today I want to talk about something that’s been on my mind a lot recently and that is voting. The California primaries took place recently, on March 3rd. This day was actually referred to as “Super Tuesday” because there were so many states holding their primaries on that same day. The primaries continue on–there were actually some yesterday. Why can’t all states just have their primaries on the same day, like we do for the presidential election? If anyone knows why please share down below. Currently, Joe Biden is leading in the delegate count for the democratic party nominee. 

A lot of my students said that they support Bernie, like I did. I’m glad there’s still things that I can connect with my students outside of theatre. Intergenerational connection is really important, if you ask me. However, I read somewhere that the voter turnout for younger folks was really low, which made me a little upset. This is YOUR future that we are voting for, why aren’t you interested in shaping what it looks like. I won’t have to live with the effects of this election as long as you all will. I might be rolling in my grave, but I won’t have to live with the effects of this election, or any election, for that matter. Especially with Trump in office, EVERYBODY should be voting to get him out! 

Not all of my students can vote, since not all of them are over 18 yet, which is understandable. However, some of my students are older than 18 and citizens of this country and yet, they did not vote. I don’t know what it is with the apathy of this younger generation, but it really bothers me. Especially when minorities don’t vote, like women and black people. People suffered and fought for your right to vote, and you are just taking that for granted by metaphorically throwing away your ballot. A lot of young people say that them voting won’t change anything. Especially since a lot of my students are liberals, they say voting doesn’t matter since they already live in a blue state. However, my conservative students also don’t vote! Their reasoning is that their vote isn’t going to count or matter because the state they live in is so blue already. If they were in a swing state they definitely would’ve voted. I think both of these arguments are just excuses. Even if you believe your vote doesn’t matter, you might as well do it anyways, since it doesn’t matter whether you do it or not.

A common argument I hear from people my age is that 18 is too young as the national voting age. They say that kids are too stupid to vote for their own futures. They are not informed voters, they are just sheep and do what everyone else is doing. I disagree with this argument. I think that my students are more than qualified and capable of shaping their own future. Also, I know so many older, dumb, uninformed voters. Being older does not automatically make you more informed. You still have to do your research and put in the work. 

What do you all think? How impactful is voting really? Should the voting age be lowered/raised? If so, why? Let me know what you all think; I’d love to hear all your wonderful thoughts. If you liked this post be sure to subscribe for more content like this. See you next time and have a wonderful week!