This November marks the midterm elections in the state of Florida, calling students to lean in and engage.
Financial aid, school funding, and cost of living are all factors that affect college students and are decided by elected officials. However, college students haven’t consistently had the best voting turnout rate. According to the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE), less than a third of college students voted in the last midterm election”.
Maya Washington, a first-year pre-pharmacy student, voices her perspective on why college students don’t participate in the midterm elections.
“I feel [like students] may not know why they have to vote,” Washington said. “Sometimes they feel like their vote doesn’t really matter, like I’m only one person, what is my vote going to do?”
According to the U.S. Vote Foundation, the midterm election determines which party will hold majority in Congress. Up for election are all the seats in the House of Representative, 35 Senators seats including Florida’s and 36 Governor seats are open.
Maya Tucker, a sophomore senator, communicates her sentiments towards the importance of college students voting.
“They are directly impacted by each policy decision that is made,” Tucker said. “When you use your vote, you are able to voice your concern; you can voice the things that you would like to see. Your vote is the opportunity to talk about what you want to see on and off your campus.”
The President of the Student Government Association at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, Kennedy Williams, discloses what’s being done to make sure students have an opportunity to vote.
“Our lobbying department does voter registration at every major event that we have,” Williams said. “So, we did one during move-in week and at Set Friday, then we’re also doing a vote week just making sure students are knowledgeable about the policies that are going to be coming up, how they can work, and ways they can advocate for some of the things they want to see.”
Visiting Professor Sarah Dominguez from the College of Social Science, Arts and Humanities at Florida A&M University speaks on college students’ civic duty to vote.
“Midterm elections are abundantly important,” Professor Dominguez said. “The capacity to vote was something that was fought for years and it is important that we take advantage of it and it is exceptionally easy to vote; there are many resources all around campus to register to vote, change your address if you need to. If you have an opinion, you should share it.”
The deadline to request a mail ballot is October 22, you can also visit the on-campus voting sites to cast your ballot. The midterm elections are on November 3.
