Midterm elections are coming up. Due to voting age restrictions, many students are not thinking about how they will cast their vote. But for those who are voting for the first time, properly determining which candidate you may vote for is important. The Scholium staff requested that each political club contribute a statement to help guide students in their journey towards a vote. We invite student perspective to be heard, so please contact any member of the Scholium staff, listed on page 2, with comments or inquiries.
Young Democrats:
With midterms approaching, it is crucial that we do our part as citizens and cast a vote. Obviously, not everyone is 18 years-old, but we should still be informed about what is happening because all elections––whether it be local, national, or presidential––are important.
If you recently turned 18 or are about to be 18, it is crucial that you register to vote as soon as you have the opportunity. If you aren’t sure where to start, VoteAmerica and vote.pa.gov are helpful websites that instruct you on how to register, how to vote in elections, and howto find your polling place. However, before voting in elections, you must be informed about all of the candidates. Researching candidates and their stances on important issues is an essential step of the voting process.
This year, inflation and abortion are central topics in the elections. Many voters will be voting for candidates solely based on their stance on these two issues. In an NPR (National Public Radio) survey asking what topic voters care most about for midterm elections, abortion was the clear top issue, followed by healthcare and inflation.
For upcoming midterm elections, the two main positions on the Pennsylvania ballot are for Governor and Senator. Josh Shapiro is a Democrat running for Governor and John Fetterman a Democrat running for senator. Shapiro supports the right to choose and will defend access to reproductive healthcare. He plans to reform the Pennsylvania justice system while ensuring that communities are safe. He will expand affordable housing and work to improve infrastructure, too. Building off of his work as attorney general of PA, as governor, he will continue the progress he has made over the years.
Please inform yourself about the fast-approaching midterm elections and don’t forget to vote. Your vote matters.
Photo Courtesty of npr.org
Young Republicans:
Registering to vote is important to perform your civic duty as a US citizen and make sure that you are represented in our state and federal government. Although you do not have to register as a Democrat or Republican, if you do so, you will be able to vote in the primaries and help elect your party’s candidates.
We as a club believe that it is not only your civic responsibility to vote but also to choose a party that best supports your views. For us, we are concerned about various issues in our country and the world: inflation (both food and gas prices in particular), lack of respect for the US on the international stage (examples including the War in Ukraine and the China-Taiwan conflict), and the tax and spend pattern incumbent in the federal government as of now. Hoping to alleviate some of these issues, we vote Republican and do our best to stay informed about developing controversy and political discourse.
This year, the frontrunners for the Republican party in Pennsylvania show promise for both the party and the lives of Pennsyvlanians. For the US Senate, Dr. Mehmet Oz is the Republican candidate running against Democrat John Fetterman. Oz is campaigning on the basis of modernizing health care for affordability, preventing mass illegal immigration, fostering public transparency, and improving the public schooling system (via Dr. Oz for US Senate).
Dave Galluch is a Republican congressional candidate for Pennsylvania’s 5th Congressional District running against the incumbent Democratic representative, Mary Gay Scanlon. Galluch promises to tackle inflation and gas prices as well as helping the working class to prosper (via Dave Galluch for Congress). Similar to Oz, Galluch sees education as an essential part of class mobility and seeks to ameliorate the public school system. Along with both of them, Doug Mastriano, the Republican candidate for governor, running against Democrat Josh Shapiro, champions individual liberty.
For high school students like us, voting in our first election may be overwhelming and confusing. Managing this process may seem arduous, but there are tons of resources to help. The first step is making sure you’re registered to vote.
Our advice: try your best not to be forced into voting one way by peers. Vote in a way that best reflects your views for yourself and your community. This isn’t to say that political discourse isn’t important and can’t help form or change opinions, but at the end of the day, it’s your vote.
Young Independents:
Our club is a response to the current political divisions overwhelming our country. In a world where everyone is so entrenched inside their own partisan echo chamber, we hope to bridge the two sides through civil discourse and debate to find common ground. At the end of the day, no single party has all the answers, but taken together, we have the insights and power to evoke true and beneficial change. We hope that through civil discussion, many people will consider perspectives outside of their circle and listen to what the other side has to say.
The political atmosphere today is extremely divisive. Many cannot get their own opinion through without others denouncing it, and many find that people do not listen.
We believe most politicians, on both sides, to be corrupt people that are more concerned with lining their pockets than dealing with the public’s concerns. Although this pessimistic view of politicians is not representative of all candidates, only through the assumption of the worst of intentions can we distinguish between the two.
We do not endorse any specific candidate because we stand independent. However, we will give advice on how to use your vote most effectively. When considering which candidate to choose, it is important to rank issues you find most important. From there, narrow down your list of candidates to those who share your views on the issues you found most pressing. With your shortened list, research all the candidates based on their experience, merit, and character; however, when researching the candidates, look into at least one right-wing, left-wing, and neutral source. Finally, choose the candidate that you believe to be most qualified and has your interests best in mind.
We cannot stress this enough: Do not vote for a candidate primarily because they are of the same political affiliation or out for dislike of the other candidate. Casting a no vote is better than a bad vote.
Amidst the upcoming elections, both major parties are more concerned about slandering the other side than doing what is best for the country. This trend is most notably demonstrated in the 2020 election, where both sides promoted their candidates not through the advertisement of their strengths, merits, or beneficial policies, but the continual degradation of the other candidate and party on all social media platforms. As a result, the tensions have intensified the already high rates of partisanship and polarization. Many people, in an attempt to solve this, have tried to drop all political discussions as a whole. However, this is only a temporary dam to the pressing conflict that is the flood. The only solution to this dilemma in the long-term is not to stop discussion, but to encourage it in a civil and respectful manner with the intention of finding common ground.