Taking the Dive
Why I ran for office- and why Millennials should get involved in government
Politics finds few lovers in millennials, that’s for sure. Pew Research Center identifies the many paradoxes of our generation when it comes to politics: we loathe the parties above all else, but hold Congress in relatively high regard. Over 57% of millennials want smaller government if you mention the word taxes, but 54% want more government services (so long as you don’t mention those taxes). Needless to say, millennials are all over the map politically, but are generally disillusioned with the political process.
For a long time, I shared that disillusionment, but like the rest of my generation, I often wavered. One of the things that endeared me to the political process was education. I’ve always been an advocate for public education. That’s why, when I was approached about running for the School Board in my home school district this summer, I wasn’t reluctant for very long. I jumped in, and campaigned hard for the job against four opponents- all significantly older than me.
Long story short, I won my election, but I managed to help increase turnout in my school district from an abysmal 4% to a slightly better but still low 14% percent. I can’t take unilateral credit for juicing turnout by 10%, but I did a lot to make district residents, especially my younger peers, more aware. A big problem that many people, millennials in particular, have is what I call ‘political apathy’- that is, they’re so disenchanted with the political system as a whole, they fail to recognize their own importance in the process.
School board elections are commonly held on the first Tuesday after Labor Day, making them a prime time for voters to stay at home. It was important for me to get the message out about a school board election, and to make sure people had the means and the know-how to vote. That meant reaching out to ‘drop-off’ voters, or those who might not typically vote. I went door to door in retirement homes in our community, signing up the elderly to vote by mail, and explaining to them the importance of taking part in a school board election. In the same vein, I signed many of my high-school peers up to vote absentee at their colleges, and engaged them online and through social media. Even though they may not live there 100% of the time, they still had a vested interest in the workings of our school, their alma mater. When you bring new people into the process, and affirm in them the idea that their voice matters, they will begin to recognize their importance in the process, especially in low turnout elections, like mine. That will then translate to more engagement in larger elections, and for longer times. I’m confident that it was my expansion of the electorate that decisively delivered victory on September 8th.
Furthermore, I think it’s time to take a clearheaded and honest look at our local election process. Just two months from now, voters will again go to the polls to vote in a municipal election, and the election will likely have abysmal turnout. Plain and simple, we have too many elections. Local elections like school board get overshadowed by much larger races, and when they do get attention, it’s seldom for issues that matter. Only 14% of voters voted for school board, compared to roughly 78% of voters who voted in 2012! The fact is, holding local, municipal, and even some state elections at the same time as a presidential or even gubernatorial election would increase participation, and would make our government more accountable to the public, not just the voters.
All in all, I know that I am better for having run for school board. My race was not giant- less than 500 voted (an accomplishment still, in a small district), but it is my hope that my example will be used to inspire other young people to stand up and intervene in the political process.
