The student news site of Peddie School

The Peddie News

The student news site of Peddie School

The Peddie News

The student news site of Peddie School

The Peddie News

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Opinion: Young People Cannot Influence Politics

By: Cassie Follman’16
Staff Writer

A person is legally seen as an adult when they turn eighteen. While some teenagers dread this time when they have to grow up and think about their impending future, others look forward to the independence and positives of being eighteen. The right to vote is granted to those who reach their eighteenth birthday. Most people have a basic understanding of how the voting process works: voters get to decide who represents us in the government. This holds true whether voting for a President, a Senator, a Congressman or the numerous other positions in the government. Even though everyone over the age of eighteen can vote, this does not mean that their vote really makes a significant difference.

Despite young people making up 20 percent of available voters in the US, most of these young people do not end up voting. The youth vote could make more of a difference in politics if more young people voted. However, only 54 percent of adults aged 18 to 31 report that they are registered to vote, as opposed to the next age group (32 to 64) which 85 percent of people report to be registered. Ninety four percent of voters above the age of 65 say that they are registered voters. Though youth voting numbers continues to rise and peaked at 51 percent in the 2008 election, the rate went down to only 45 percent in 2012, the lowest since 2000. This percentage shows that a small number of young people are voting in America. This is the reason why young people don’t feel strongly represented in the government.

In correlation to the statistics, the difficulty in registering to vote is one reason as to why the youth vote is not nearly as high as it could be. Registering to vote is a difficult process, and as a result depletes the percentage of voters in the US. Voting is based on the state, and the requirements to register vary from state to state. In New Jersey, people are required to fill out a form that is delivered 21 days before the election. For some students, registering can be more difficult than others. For example, boarding students find it hard to get off campus to vote. And even though New Jersey has a registration form on its official website, this may not be the case with all states. If the registration form is not on the website, students will have to register in a local office in their area. Peddie students may not have time to fill out the proper paperwork due to busy schedules, and other young people might experience similar experiences as well.

Another issue concerning the youth vote is the lack of knowledge about politics. In the 2012 election, it was reported that many young people were not informed about politics. This further supports the case that young people do not have as much influence in politics because those uninformed people either did not vote or did not comprehend the issues that each candidate stood for when voting in the elections. Although some young people do know about politics, the percentage of those who do not is alarming. If the youth vote were to make a difference, more young people eligible to vote need to become educated in politics.

Although American citizens are able to vote as soon as they turn eighteen, this does not mean that the teenage vote particularly matters. In order to improve on the lack of informed and politically active young people, there must be more focus on informative knowledge of politics.

 

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