{"id":214,"date":"2012-10-15T14:49:27","date_gmt":"2012-10-15T19:49:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.daytonastateinmotion.com\/?p=214"},"modified":"2018-05-13T18:43:13","modified_gmt":"2018-05-13T22:43:13","slug":"election-requires-youth-voters-at-polls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.daytonastateinmotion.com\/oldsite\/election-requires-youth-voters-at-polls\/","title":{"rendered":"Election requires youth voters at polls"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"It<\/a>
It will be up to Daytona State College students like Zach Shannon to help decide the future of America by voting this upcoming election.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

by Emelia Hitchner<\/p>\n

All around the world people struggle to have their voices heard, but in America, where voting is a commodity and right, young voices remain silent.<\/p>\n

By 2015, the present college-aged generation will make up one-third of the electorate, according to the Young Democrats of America organization. Around 80 million strong, the aptly nicknamed \u201cDigital Natives\u201d generation is more interested in \u201ctweeting” their political opinion than voting it.<\/p>\n

Even during the 2008 election when Barrack Obama rallied the enthusiasm of the younger generation, the turnout of qualified youth voters was not much higher than in previous elections. Only 51.1 percent of eligible voters under the age of 30 contributed to the polls.<\/p>\n

\u201cGeneration Y\u201d is the largest and most diverse of all generations in American history, with varied ethnicities making up nearly 40 percent of its population. It is a social and confident group of youth, eager to share their view, so what induces their apathy at the polls?<\/p>\n

\u201cThis generation is really detached. They feel like they really can\u2019t change things, they feel like for better or for worse, the system is dysfunctional,\u201d said geography professor Christopher Whitaker of Daytona State College. \u201cPresident Obama has tried hard to appeal through pop culture to the youth, but on actual issues, it\u2019s unclear what the youth vote really cares about. They\u2019re not really that knowledgeable about foreign policy and many don\u2019t have a good grasp on current events or even domestic policy issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although Obama did attempt to enthuse the youth, the typical politician focuses on the people who will definitely vote. This induces a vicious cycle that encourages neither Gen Y\u2019s participation nor a politician\u2019s willingness to advertise to them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe candidates really don\u2019t go after the youth vote; the candidate with only so much money will go to the people who are going to vote \u2013 age 50 and older,\u201d said Ann McFall, the supervisor of elections for the Volusia County Department of Elections. \u201cI think it\u2019s an issue. If the youth got together and voted in a block, they would have a say in who is representing them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even bad weather can affect voter turnout. In a 2007 study published in the Journal of Politics, it was discovered that bad weather deters voters on Election Day, declining participation to nearly 1 percent. For the technology driven generation, easy access can make all the difference. With 96 percent of Gen Y relying heavily on social media to participate and stay informed, it seems the actual political process is a bit archaic. Websites such as TurboVote attempt to encourage online voting registration for the generation, hoping to stimulate more youth involvement.<\/p>\n

As the economy struggles, the biggest election issues will be the issues that affect the youth the most. Gen Y\u2019s large population size could make it the generation with the most potential impact in history, given their participation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re at a crossroads in the country as to whether we are going to become more like a European social democracy or return to the old traditional American way of political culture of individualism and responsibility,\u201d said DSC political science professor Sally Hansen. \u201cWhoever wins this election will determine the direction the country goes in.\u201d<\/p>\n

The outcome of a bright future could be in the hands of the youth, but it will take more than a political obligation to get them to the polls.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople die when they go to vote at some of the polls in third world countries, but we have people in America who won\u2019t even vote,\u201d said McFall.<\/p>\n

Although the right to vote comes freely in America, obstacles as simple as bad weather, busy schedules and lack of online registration is enough to dissuade young Americans from voting. Around the world, people are willing to risk more just to be heard.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeveral years ago in Iraq, Americans were saying that the Iraqis couldn\u2019t get democracy and there was certainly a lot of criticism, but the percentage of the Iraqi population that voted was higher than we have had in almost any of our own elections,\u201d said Whitaker. \u201cThere were bombs going off and people were being killed. Terrorists were threatening to kill those who voted and yet people were still willing to endure it.\u201d<\/p>\n

In one month, the direction of the country will rely on those willing to take a stand. To keep democracy alive, it needs a voice to speak for it and Generation Y is large enough to be that voice. In the words of Franklin D. Roosevelt, \u201cThe point in history at which we stand is full of promise and danger. The world will either move forward to unity and widely shared prosperity \u2013 or it will move apart.\u201d Only America can decide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Emelia Hitchner All around the world people struggle to have their voices heard, but in America, where voting is a commodity and right, young voices remain silent. By 2015, the present college-aged generation will make up one-third of the electorate, according to the Young Democrats of America organization. Around Continue reading Election requires youth voters at polls<\/span>→<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.daytonastateinmotion.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.daytonastateinmotion.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.daytonastateinmotion.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.daytonastateinmotion.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.daytonastateinmotion.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.daytonastateinmotion.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5164,"href":"https:\/\/www.daytonastateinmotion.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214\/revisions\/5164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.daytonastateinmotion.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.daytonastateinmotion.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.daytonastateinmotion.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}