“I do think voting is very important because, for instance, tuition is constantly hiking up so we have to make it affordable for everyone. When I went to the Anthony Brown event, they were talking about how that’s something they’re working towards, and we can vote for those people to represent us.” – Toni Keddell, sophomore criminology major.

“I think voting is important. Sometimes we don’t see the changes directly so I think a lot of people our age are afraid to vote or they don’t care about voting, but I do think it’s important.” – Destini Baldwin, junior journalism major.

“I think that voting is absolutely a civic duty because I definitely notice people complaining about lack of social-economic change, but I definitely notice a lot of voter apathy amongst our age group for sure.” – Brad Seidman, senior environmental science and policy major.

“Yes, I think voting is very important for students, not just because it’s our civic duty but because it’s a way for us to get our point across as young people and a demographic that older generations don’t see as important or as socially aware as others.” – Julian Do, junior mechanical engineering major.

“I think voting is the greatest thing that humanity has ever created. Literally. The idea that we are all important and that our opinion matters and the idea that we can collectively decide our fate, spread equally amongst us all is awesome. And every time that we get to practice that, it should be celebrated. Those that fail to see how great it is are morons. They don’t trust others to make the decisions and don’t believe in themselves or have the cojones to vote and decide.” – Nick Rozzo, sophomore economics and government and politics double major.

“A lot of people cite voting being important because of all the people that have died for our country, and I think that’s a fantastic reason, but I think it comes down to a lot of things. The whole world has been watching. We’ve had this great American experiment, the American democracy experiment for centuries now and I think it’s really up to us and especially our generation to prove to them that the experiment is alive and well. People accuse voters of picking candidates that are very far left or very far right. I think at the end of the day, that voters, especially young people, are adult enough to make their own decisions and realize what’s going on and pick candidates that are in it for the right reasons, to get something done and not just to get a political headline. So why should someone vote in an age where we have the electoral college or you’re one in 650,000 in a congressional district? Well, statistically, because so many people don’t vote, you’re pretty well off voting and your vote does make a difference. Your vote can really sway a lot of things. It can come down to the local elections. The quote “all politics is local” is very applicable. It’s one thing that sets us apart from a lot of countries. I think voting is merely just the first step of getting involved civically in the United States.” – Christian Knapp, freshman economics and government and politics double major.

Julia Keane is a sophomore environmental science and policy major and can be reached at julia@ckweb.com.