Youth and voting

Voters 18 to 29 years old hold an estimated 20 percent of the eligible voting population.

Nov. 4, 2008 is Election Day; a day that presidential candidates and fellow citizens hope that as many people as possible will cast their vote.

The 2004 election saw the largest potential youth voter population in 20 years, according to former CIRCLE Director and current CIRCLE Senior Adviser William Galston. One-fifth of the 2004 eligible voting population was composed of citizens ages 18 to 29, an approximate 41 million voters.

It has been speculated that the voting-trend will continue to rise. Once you begin to vote, you are more likely to continue. Thus, voting is a "habit-forming activity," according to Donald Green, director of the Institution for Social and Policy Studies at Yale University.

In April of this year, Karlo Barrios Marcelo, a research associate for CIRCLE, arranged a fact sheet about young voters in North Carolina, which presented that only 45 percent of eligible North Carolina citizens ages 18 to 29, showed up to the polls to vote in 2004.

However, by combining Marcelo's information and the population results from the 2000 N.C. census, only about 634,000 of the 1.4 million eligible youth voters possibly voiced their opinion in the Bush/Kerry election.

This is one of the most pivotal elections in U.S. history. We will have either our first Black president or our first female vice president. The results of this election will also determine the path our country takes economically and in foreign policy, two issues that greatly affect our citizens, especially with our disdain for rising gas prices.

This election season also had another first; it was the first time a presidential candidate visited ECU.

Both candidates know how important the youth vote can be if we make an effort to care enough to vote.

The decisions made by the new president will affect everyone. If you do not vote, you are allowing someone you did not attempt to elect, to govern you.

You cannot legitimately complain about any aspect of how the country is run if you do not vote. If your argument is that your vote is pointless because the Electoral College is flawed and should be abolished, then vote for the candidate that you believe or know has a similar belief as you. It is possible that if that person were elected, he or she could work towards abolishing the Electoral College, while in office.

It's worth trying to elect someone who could bring about changes that you agree with; trying is better than giving up.

Everyone who is eligible to vote should cast his or her vote. If you do not like the republican candidate or the democratic candidate, then vote for someone on the third-party ticket. No vote is a wasted vote. You never know what might happen; it's possible that a third party could win the nomination for president. In 1992, Ross Perot did better than many people probably thought he would.

Vote on every possible level that you can: in clubs, in student government, in our city, in our state, in our nation. It is your civic duty to vote and voting is a great way to try to bring positive change to your country.

Do not allow your voice to go unheard. Regardless of whether you think your opinion counts, it is impossible for it to count if you refuse to try. Apathy can be the death of our voice if we allow it to be.

This writer can be contacted at opinion@theeastcarolinian.com.