Voting has always been important. But the 2018 midterm elections present an opportunity for voters, especially college-age voters, to have a huge impact on the future direction of the United States.

The American public has the ability to be more engaged with politics than ever before. Through the power of social media and the prevalence of a 24-hour news cycle, it has become almost impossible for Americans to avoid politics.

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But even though engagement might be high, the representation for voters among elected leaders is not nearly as high as it should be. Our elected leaders are meant to be representatives for the districts or states they represent — but it’s no secret that there’s a lack of representation for women and minorities in government.

Over recent years, we’ve seen leaders simply ignore the will of the voters they’re meant to represent. A plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act was disapproved by 60 percent of voters, yet was one vote away from passing. Only 26 percent of Americans approved of the tax reform bill that was passed last December.

Just recently, we watched Dr. Christine Blasey Ford give a testimony on the details of her sexual assault allegation against then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. While she did this, she looked up at a 21-person committee. Seventeen of those people were men.

That is not a representation of America.

The 2018 midterm elections offer voters a chance to be heard, and that’s especially true for college-age voters. Voter turnout drops among all demographics in midterm elections, but this is a greater issue for young voters. A recent poll showed that only 28 percent of voters aged 18 to 29 are certain they will vote in the midterm elections, while 74 percent of seniors say they will.

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“The midterm elections are less ingrained in the public consciousness than the general election every four years and I believe that is what plays the biggest role in decreased turnout,” Katie Shanahan, president of SU’s Democracy Matters, said in an email.

“It only takes a few minutes to register to vote or request an absentee ballot but it’s easy to dismiss it as unimportant when you have a million pressing things to attend to,” Shanahan said.

As voters, we can never have direct control of how our elected leaders behave or vote. The only thing we can directly control is who those elected leaders are.

Control of both the Congress and Senate are at stake in November. It can be easy to dismiss midterm elections, like the upcoming one, as unimportant. While elections are not typically decided by a single vote, if hundreds of people have that mentality, those numbers add up.

Until the day in which everyone in the U.S. votes equally, we will never truly get a representation of America in government. Until then, it is crucial for young people to pay attention and involve themselves in the political process.

You can start on Nov. 6. You can change the course of history.

Nick Turner is a senior political science and policy studies major. His column appears weekly. He can be reached at nturner@syr.edu.

Published on October 7, 2018 at 10:41 pm