Use Your Privilege: Go Vote!
By: Alli Gerson, Becky Bravman, Allie McCarthy, Lauren Defelice, McKenzie Mack, and Bella McDermott
Prior to taking this course, we all knew how important voting is, but after taking this course, we understood how many problems there are in today’s society and the importance and mark your vote will make. We need to understand that voting is one of our privileges as American citizens, and we need to exercise this right to ensure change will happen. We each find it very important to encourage our peers to vote and how easy and fast it is to register as well. We hope that by spreading this knowledge, we will motivate more people to act on their beliefs.
College-aged students are the next generation that will ultimately be deciding how the future will unfold and will be the next leaders. It is crucial that students are educated on the meaning of their vote and what each election means for their home state as well as the country as a whole. It’s imperative we take advantage of our rights to vote for what we want the future of our country to look like for future generations as well. To spread voting awareness, we created an infographic promoting the importance of using our right to vote. We included important information like which party to choose and how to vote on campus. We hope to encourage students to get involved in politics and advocate for their opinions within a democracy. These infographics can be posted around campus in hopes that students will stop and read. Small things like an infographic will go a long way in educating students on the importance of voting in the upcoming elections and to keep an eye out for their likes and dislikes about certain candidates and topics. This project was meaningful to us because we worked on it after a local election. It connected to current times and we also think with today’s society, voting is very important when expressing your beliefs. While doing this project we learned the significance of every individual’s vote and how important it truly is for everyone to participate in it. While learning this, it made us realize that we do matter in this process and how our voices and opinions are powerful and we should use them for good. This project, if done in the future, may have been better done before election day so that way it would be more prominent and appealing to readers. If we had more time and some funding we may be able to create a campaign to advertise to other college students about registering to vote. A creation of a website could have also worked to share information and get our statement across to students about voting registration and how impactful voting is to our society.
In 2020, Millennials and Gen Z were the two largest groups of eligible voters and half of these young adults get their information from social media. In the 2020 election, 66% of college students voted. This was 14% higher than the 2016 election! 51% of people get their voting information from Instagram and 48% get their information from Twitter. Influencers today have stepped up to promote the importance of voting to their younger audience. Millennials and Gen Z rely heavily on social media so targeting these people on different platforms will ensure that the word is being spread. In 2020, 82% of Elon students were registered to vote, but only 74% actually voted. In hopes of changing these numbers, we are spreading awareness through our infographic. The infographic we created can be posted on Instagram stories, as well as various social media platforms, and hopefully, students will view the graphic and want to repost it to further spread awareness.
The reason we think voting is so necessary for everyone to take part in is because of the effect you can take part in. Voting is a right that allows citizens to voice their opinion and concerns on public issues. You are able to vote for leaders that represent your ideas. Many countries do not have this luxury, so we need to realize the privilege we hold, and the importance of every individual’s vote.
How to Register to Vote:
You can only vote in one place, so will need to decide if you want to use your home address or your Elon University address which will determine what location you will vote in. If you are out of state it is important to learn about potential barriers and requirements from your home state.
Elon students are encouraged to vote using TurboVote. Most students vote by absentee ballot and enter their permanent home address in TurboVote. If you do choose to register to vote here in Alamance County, you are able to vote by mail or in person.
TurboVote helps students vote in every election, whether that be local, state, or national, by allowing you to register where you want to vote and keeping you updated on what is going on in your community.
TurboVote helps students register to vote online or by paper, sends election reminders via text and email, and has absentee ballot request forms to vote by mail.
Information of some of the different political parties:
Democratic Party: Left leaning group focused on social responsibility. They advocate for a strong government that provides immense support for American citizens. Mainly, ideologic, liberal, progressive values.
Republican Party: Right leaning group focused on privacy and independence. They advocate for traditional, conservative values and minimal government interference. Also anchored in economic libertarianism.
Independent: far-right political party that has no affiliation with the democratic nor republican party. They advocate for the strict adherence to written law.
