Riya Mukherjee ‘23
Emily Staid ‘22
29% of EA’s seniors will be able to vote for the first time this year. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, EA students plan to participate in the election, both through voting and registration.
The Young Democrats and Young Republicans clubs plan to encourage voter registration and participation with EA’s resources. Vince Vento ‘21, president of the Young Democrats Club, says, “Young Dems is currently working on bringing back the voter registration drive that was cut short at the end of last school year.” This voter registration drive would allow eligible on-campus voters to sign up to vote and encourage them to participate in the election this year. John Shanahan ‘21, co-president of the Young Republicans Club, adds that “voting is extremely important to make sure you help enact the changes you wish to see in government. It’s your responsibility to vote as much as possible and for who you think is best.”
Vento explains that the Young Democrats Club “will be motivating students to become youth voters this year by informing them about the consequences of not voting…Arguably, it could define the next decades of our lives.” The club is currently registering fellow seniors in the theater during free periods. Due to age, both Vento and Shanahan will not be eligible to vote in the November election, but are committed to informing and supporting their classmates through the process.
Photo courtesy of Abby Gallo ’22
Alexander Jimenez, faculty advisor for the Young Democrats Club and Upper School English teacher, proposes “providing an online form in which our seniors can vote. Maybe, we have a chapel, or a theatre, a zoom session in which we talk about the importance of voting.”
Promotion of voter registration is an essential part of increasing the number of youth voters. People are eligible to vote if they are 18 or older by the election on November 3rd. The registration deadline for mail, online, and in-person voting is October 19th. There are various ways to vote, including voting by mail by requesting an absentee or mail-in ballot by October 27th, early in-person voting (available until October 27th), or voting at the polls on election day.
According to census.gov in the 2016 presidential election, only 46.1% of the same age range voted. In this same election, 70.9% of people aged 65 or older, 66% of people aged 45-64, and 58.7% people aged 30-44 years participated in voting. Based on this information, an increase in youth participation may have resulted in a different outcome in the 2016 election, as 55% of youth voters voted for Clinton in the 2016 election, according to brookings.edu.
“This election especially, seeing as it is so controversial, young voters should get out and make sure their voices are heard, because their votes really will affect the future of our country,” says Gaeli Keffer Scharpf ‘23. Shanahan shares a similar opinion. stating, “While the coronavirus may keep some at-risk people from voting in person, most people won’t have a problem with voting (especially at our age). Others who don’t feel comfortable voting in person will most likely just vote by mail.”
Jimenez, encouraged by young adults’ participation in politics, provides optimism for this election and states, “I think that generally, people believe that young voters don’t vote, and statistically younger voters do not vote. However I do believe that younger voters feel energized [this year] and are committed to a cultural shift in which young people vote all the time.”