Bystanders are the missing youth vote

In two months, we will find out if this truly is a historic presidential election. Will the youth actually get out and vote? As a young voter myself, I certainly hope so. However, history has shown election after election, young voters typically tend not to vote. Just because you are young does not mean you don't have a voice, but our voice is typically drown out by the votes of older generations because-surprise- they actually participate in politics.

According to the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, the largest demographic of people who do not vote are the " bystanders" - who compromise ten percent of the population. Of these bystanders, 40 percent are under the age of 30. How much of a difference could all those votes make? The 2004 election showed that the race for presidency can be neck-in-neck.

It is extremely disheartening to me that people, at such a young age, are not voting. There are significant correlations between a person's quality of life and whether or not they vote. People under the age of 30 who do not vote are more likely than any other group to be among the poorest and least educated.

 In seeking to understand what makes some young people decide to vote and others not, I talked to a wide variety of people. Some were not going to vote because they were waiting on their citizenship to come through, others were not quite old enough and some just were plain fed-up with the system.

 Karry Evans, a Government teacher at ACC, believes that young people in general  don't vote because they feel like they have no control. I definitely can understand that but nothing in my life was ever made easier by my not doing something. The easiest way to significantly make a marked difference in your life is to make informed voting decisions.

Student Boaz Buell believes that we have a responsibility as Americans to vote. He believes that not voting is taking for granted that half the world doesn't have the rights that we do. In not voting, we take away a significant amount of our freedom that others have fought for. I absolutely agree with this sentiment.

 But I do realize that not everyone is not voting because they take democracy for granted. Some, like Psychology teacher Don Dydek, are not voting out of a form of protest. He is unhappy with the system and so, for one of the few times in 40 years, he will not be voting.

 Certainly I could see where he is coming from. The fallout from the 2004 election left a sour taste in many people's minds about the accuracy of our voting system. However, Dydek also stated, I probably will re-register. I think young people could make a significant impact on this election.

If you are a young voter, donít allow yourself to become just another bystander. Vote.