Seniors channel hope for change into political actions in upcoming midterm elections

October 29, 2022 — by Sarah Thomas and Sarah Zhou
Photo by Leyna Chan
The upcoming midterm elections will be the first chance for some seniors to vote.
Of the seniors who are able to vote this year, many are eager to vote and understand the importance of using their vote to make a difference.

The past year’s ASB and class elections had a record-high number of votes, with roughly 80% of the student body voting. The Class of 2023 cast over a third of 712 votes total. With such participation in school elections, it’s hardly a surprise that eligible seniors plan to vote in California’s midterm elections on Nov. 8.

“I feel like it’s important to vote because first, you feel important, and second, you want to make sure that your voice is heard, or at least a part of you is heard,” senior Bella Marty said. “You want to make sure that if you’re really passionate about something, the change happens.”

Some who have turned 18 already, such as Marty, have looked forward to voting for years.

Marty said she found registering to vote to be simple. She used a secure online voting registration site and answered a few questions before quickly receiving an email that her registration had been processed. The last day to register to vote is 15 days before Election Day, and a person must be 18 by Election Day to vote.

Senior Noah Marquez had a similar experience: The day he turned 18 he received a reminder from Instagram and Facebook to register to vote. 

While adults in Marquez’s family are also active voters, he said he doesn’t feel pressure to vote from them, and votes regardless of others’ decisions to vote, as reading his parents’ ballot when he was younger had always intrigued him.

That being said — Marquez agreed that research and being active politically are important — the time commitment required can be challenging for students, especially as they prepare to apply to college. 

“[The amount of research required to understand the propositions] is kind of daunting, especially now, as I’m busy with school and college applications,” Marquez said. “So I’ve definitely been putting [my research] off, but I am really interested in learning about these propositions and putting my true opinions out there. I need the information for some of the propositions I’m split on to be soaking in my brain for a long time [before I make a decision].”

In addition, he said he has not received any direct information about the upcoming midterms from the school, other than learning about the government and current events in his AP Government and Economics class with history teacher Holly Royaltey. In addition, history teacher Kirk Abe’s classes are also completing projects where students educate each other on all seven propositions by presenting in front of the class. Marquez adds, however, that the school should provide some form of voting information for when each senior turns 18. 

“I think a couple of MOSAICs to learn about what’s actually on the ballot would be so much more helpful than whatever it is we’re doing now,” Marquez said. “I feel like we need to know how [to be responsible adults], so it would be nice to have a little help before we’re off in the world.” 

Senior Julian Berkowitz-Sklar had a different view: He said that all of his teachers have done a good job keeping students informed about registering to vote and have educated students on the midterms by discussing current events, although social media can often interfere with young voters’ perception of political issues

In general, the school’s seniors are relatively more enthusiastic than seniors nationwide in recent elections: According to Brookings, only half of young potential voters actually cast a ballot. By contrast, 71% of voters are 50 or older, according to Kaiser Family Foundation.

Although many younger people tend to get their news from social media, many sites don’t require people to fact-check or confirm information before sharing it. Around 70% of social media users have encountered fake news. According to the Pew Research Center, eight out of 10 adults get their news from a smartphone, and the vast majority of teens get their news from social media sites like YouTube and Reddit rather than traditional media.

“It’s important to get news from reliable sources,” Berkowitz-Sklar said. “Obviously, there’s going to be news outlets just trying to get [attention] and cause issues to get more followers so I would just say that it’s important to [seek out unbiased sources]. Everything that you see [on social media,] you have to take with a grain of salt.”

Many issues on the state ballot this year are particularly important to young voters, as they pertain to issues such as women’s reproductive rights. Although the right to contraception and abortions has been protected in California for a long time, the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade last summer has reignited the debate over the right to abortions. This issue has provoked particularly strong reactions from younger voters.

“If you’re someone who thinks the world can be a certain way you should definitely vote,” Berkowitz-Sklar said. “I feel like it’s pretty hypocritical to have [political complaints] about things if you don’t vote. If you have strong opinions, and then you do nothing about it, then you’re part of the problem.”

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