Election Day has come and gone, and a perpetual issue remains: Why do young people, by and large, stay away from the polls?
The age of 18 brings its share of new experiences: the ability to play the lottery, get tattoos and piercings without a parent’s permission, enroll in selective service, and a major civic duty: the right to vote. You might think waiting 18 years to finally to be heard would lead to higher turnout among young voters, but this is not the case.
Tyler Eysaman, an 18-year-old freshman at the Sage College of Albany. He missed voting in his local Herkimer County election as well as Albany County, where he lives during school. Eysaman did not willingly choose to stay away from the election; he didn’t know one was happening. Eysaman, however, wishes he had voted.
“Now that I am in college I am busy with my own schoolwork so I do kinda shove that to the back of my mind, but at the same time I do regret it because, again, it’s about voicing your own opinion it’s about saying what you wanna say about who you want to represent yourself,” says Eysaman.
Aside from not having knowledge of candidates running in either Herkimer or Albany counties, Eysaman was also unaware of the constitutional amendment proposals on the ballot; except for the successful proposition one, which paves the way for New York to install up to seven gaming casinos to the state.
Younger voters, particularly in off-year elections, remain scarce until the presidential election comes around. Eysaman believes that’s part of a larger national trend; presidential races command more attention and interest from voters of all ages.
“Not that somebody running for county is less important but I feel that more people would end up getting an absentee ballot for a general election than those for a county position because more votes will go into the general election," says Eysaman. "So, even getting an absentee ballot your vote really counts in a general election.”
Not all young voters agree.
“I’ve actually never voted a day in my life outside of things you wouldn’t even need to have your card for," says Brett DeNeve, a 21-year-old senior at Canisius College in Buffalo.
“I’m a registered Independent and am very active in understanding what goes on on the political stage of this country and the world but as far as actually putting my two cents in I feel a state of indifference," says DeNeve. "I feel like my vote doesn’t actually matter. And, you know it’s the dream, right? ‘Your vote matters, it’s the biggest American right.’ I think the biggest American right is freedom. When I see that flag I think it’s the fact that I’m allowed to say that I don’t vote and shouldn’t worry about my life being threatened.”
Although DeNeve chooses not to vote, he doesn’t his opinions discounted,
“I really don’t feel that someone should discredit my opinion due to the fact that I don’t vote because if I was really apathetic I wouldn’t have even registered.”
Although DeNeve feels indifferent about voting, he still feels that voting in local county elections remains more important than voting for president…
“I feel like local officials deserve a vote more than national because you see the results closer to you," says DeNeve. "They’re closer to home and people are more educated about what goes on in their backyard and are more concerned about what goes on in their backyard versus voting for the White House, and if you vote for the White House then I think it’s more trendy than anything else today.”
Just as turnout suffers from a lack of young voters, so too do young political candidates.
John Quigley, a 21 year-old commuter student at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut, was in the running for county legislature in his native Ulster County as a Republican. It was Quigley’s first time running for any office. He lost to the Democratic incumbent. Quigley thinks the results would have been much different if he had more young voters show up to vote and send in absentee ballots. Quigley lost by 319 votes.
“I went into this election knowing that I had a deficit due to party registration and I was hoping to make up for that party registration deficit that I’d be able to at least engage the younger population of my district and I was able to successfully get a handful of younger people to help me on my campaign but not many of the younger generation went further than that," says Quigley. "Not many people were in my district and voted.”
In hindsight, Quigley has a few ideas he wishes he could have taken advantage of to attract more of his peers to the polls.
“It’s important to use social media as a tool to reach out to people and I find that Facebook as not being the most effective anymore," says Quigley. "It’s a good reminder, rather than a reach out tool. So, I’d probably look into new ways of using different social media to reach out more effectively than I did. On that level you need more people engaged, not just so you’re the other one doing it yourself.”
DeNeve also offers methods for politicians to address the younger population.
“Talk to the school papers, says DeNeve. "Talk to the alternative city publications, from Buffalo it would be Art Voice, for example. Talk to where the interest is. You know, it’s not that hard to find in this day and age where the interest is in local people and really just target them. It’s as simple as targeting, I think.”
The thought of missing Election Day has Eysaman already thinking about making changes to his voting habits.
“In the next four years I will have more knowledge about it," says Eysaman. "I know I will, because, you know, I feel like every day, you know, people gain more knowledge about the world, and in four years I think I’ll have enough knowledge to say I voted for this reason and I feel it’s the right reason.”
As another election cycle ends, voters and politicians are already looking ahead to 2014 and 2016. Whether young people will show up at the polls next time out remains an open question.
WAMC news intern Josh Natoli is a senior at The College of St. Rose majoring in communications with a concentration in journalism.
