College student voters can have a major impact on local and presidential elections in the United States.
While every vote has the same value — one bid towards the politician of the voter’s choosing — students believe votes from the American youth can hold much more weight than that.
“We are the future generation,” said Brayden Kajiwara, a student at the University of Hawaiʻi at Manoa. “We know a lot more about how we want society to function and what we desire, so when we are more in-tuned about what’s going on now for our generation, I think that makes a large impact on the outcome of elections.”
Students like Kajiwara share similar views on participation in government elections, but note negative influences on young and impressionable voters such as social media trolls. Many untrustworthy sources can push false information out for the world to see.
Another University of Hawaiʻi student, Dylan Flanders, shares some of his advice to other college students on how to participate in elections responsibly.
“Just believe in your own opinions and your own values, don’t trust social media,” said Dylan. “Whoever you think the better candidate is, trust yourself and go with that vote.”
The importance of college students voting extends beyond the actual casting of votes. Advocates say youth are a crucial part of preserving the American democracy that we know today and working together as a society is the only way for a democracy like ours to prosper and live freely.
“It’s not that your vote is necessarily going to make the decision in a presidential election,” said Dr. Julien Gorbach, an American media historian and professor at the University of Hawaiʻi. “It’s that you are modeling behavior for everyone else. You are part of a much bigger thing than yourself. If you believe in democracy, democracy has to live in all of us or it will die.”
