As juniors and seniors of Aragon enter adulthood, voting gives them an opportunity to voice their opinions on political matters. The ability to vote becomes available at 18 years old although students can pre-register as early as 16 years of age, which enables teenagers to be automatically registered to vote when they turn of age.
Despite the earlier accessibility, there still is a disproportionate lack of young voters, as according to Statistica only 49.1% of eligible 18-24 year-olds were registered, compared to their 25-year-old and older counterparts who averaged 72.2% registration. Thus non-profit organizations such as Generation Voter San Mateo, a sub-branch of Generation Voter Burlingame and San Mateo Youth Activities Council subcommittees, seek to raise young voter awareness, accessibility and knowledge by providing approachable resources through voter drives at schools. From March 12-13, Generation Voter San Mateo set up a table in Center Court, encouraging students who are eligible for registration or pre-registration to fill out a form for registration or pre-registration. Additionally, on their website and Instagram, they provide digestible explanations of the voting process.
However, as some students start going through the motions of voting, they find themselves stuck in the political party dilemma.
“[The two-party system] focuses you into something that’s very polarizing: you’re either this or this,” said senior Declan McElarney. “You can’t be [a] Democrat without believing all the Democrat ideas and you can’t be Republican without believing 100% of all the Republican ideas. It’s red versus blue … You can’t really sit down at a table with somebody of an opposite party and have a civil discussion.”
Despite the dilemma, some students feel an obligation to vote and express a readiness to put their voices out there.
[The two-party system] focuses you into something that’s very polarizing: you’re either this or this
“I feel like it’s our responsibility to vote,” said senior Mat King. “As the younger generation, it’s the country that we’re gonna be living in the longest, we’re gonna feel these effects for the longest amount of time. We’ve always had concerns. [On] social media … you always see people complaining about policies and everything, so once we have that power, it’s important for us to use it and change.”
On the other hand, some students feel as if their vote doesn’t matter.
“Coming from a Democratic state and being that I would tend to swing to the Democratic side of things, I don’t think my vote would make much of a difference even if I did end up voting,” said senior Aryah Oztanir. “So for me, it’s like would I rather spend my time to vote or do other stuff? Knowing that my vote really won’t make a difference because we will swing Democratic anyways, I’m fine with not voting.”
For some students, voting can be a way they advocate for certain causes.
“I’m very climate-change oriented and I think one of the best ways to get more progress on climate change is to [pass] legislation,” McElarney said. “So I like to vote for people locally who will push more ecologically centric laws and ideas.”
Voting can also be a way to uplift minority representation.
As someone who’s in the [Asian American Pacific Islander] community, I feel it’s really important to vote and have our voices heard because historically, we’re very underrepresented
“As someone who’s in the [Asian American Pacific Islander] community, I feel it’s really important to vote and have our voices heard because historically, we’re very underrepresented,” King said. “We don’t have a lot of policies or say in a lot of things. There’s [been] a lot of discrimination in the past. In order for everybody to be heard and represented in the push for a future that we all can want to and share together it’s important for everyone to use their vote and to use that power.”
For other students like junior Justin Wong, who helps run voter registration drives as part of the Generation Voter Subcommittee, voting is a way to uphold American ideals.
“We live in such a Democratic place with freedom of speech,” Wong said. “It’s a privilege in most countries, but in our country, it’s a right … We should embrace the rights that the past has fought for and you should continue to participate in our democracy to make sure that America continues to be the greatest democracy.”
While the question of whether or not to partake in the United States voting system is a tricky question with no one answer, registration and pre-registration are available to those who wish.
