Are Students Voting in the 2024 Election

With election season wrapping up and votes being totaled together, American citizens have made their decisions and elected for who they would like to see in office.  Every four years the month of November always becomes a time of political divide as many people openly express their conflicting opinions on what should and shouldn’t be in this country.  The power of voting gives citizens an opportunity by selecting one of the proposed candidates from each party that best aligns with their beliefs.  But every election there are many individuals who chose to not participate for reasons that one could consider just as valid as a voter’s reason to vote.  Let’s take a look at some varying reasons why many first-time opportunist college students chose to vote vs not to vote in this election.  

Why Students Choose to Vote

For many of those who decided to vote, it majorly stemmed from the fact that an opportunistic moment to make a change was presented and they did not want to miss out.  Student Chris Morton said, “I voted because it was my first opportunity to vote for a presidential candidate and I wanted to contribute”.  Another student Brooklyn Butler-Swanger claimed he voted because it’s one his undisputed rights as a citizen and he didn’t want it to go to waste.  Many of the other student voters’ answers were related to the approval of one candidate or the disapproval of another.  

Why Students Aren’t Voting

As for those who didn’t vote, the answers leaned towards a disinterest in politics or lack of faith in any of the candidates.  “I didn’t vote because I don’t know much about politics.  So I thought the best thing to do was to sit this one out”, said Dorian Figueroa.  Dorian says he’s not against voting and sees himself participating in future elections, but he’d rather be fully educated before making a decision.  One student, Israel Good, wasn’t convinced that his vote would make a difference.  He believed that whether he voted right or left the results would still stand to stay the same.  One issue a lot of students ran into was the fact that they registered in an area that they were not currently living in.  

When it comes to politics or election season, the passion for democracy is not among all.  Students seem split in between the decision of voting or not this election with motivations well within reason.  Whether they decided to or not it is important to stay well informed with general knowledge of politics and the candidates.  There was a record high count of voters for the 2024 election  and it’s not bizarre to assume there will be even more next term.  If interested in reading stories related to voter registration with students click here.