I love voting. The first time I voted in the Virginia primary, I asked the poll workers for a few “I voted!” stickers: one to put on my car, one to put up in my room and one to wear all day. I left the polling place and immediately called my mom to say, “I voted! I’m a grown-up!” and then met my friends for celebratory “we voted!” burritos. I think taking part in democracy and fulfilling my civic responsibility is the coolest thing we as Americans get to do. When I saw the NU Decides voter registration drive on campus, I was astounded that so many people hadn’t already registered to vote, but also proud to hear about the group’s incredible success.
The presence of NU Decides on campus is not something we should take for granted. We’ve heard all about how this is the most important election in history and how we should take advantage of the opportunity to voice our opinion. Obama or McCain — we’re excited to make this choice.
Incredibly, NU Decides consists solely of an executive board of six individuals. Dulce Acosta-Licea, the treasure and publicity chair of NU Decides and a Weinberg junior, admits that the number of volunteers is unclear, though she said “there were a lot of people doing a lot of different things.” These six people organized their crew of volunteers to register and obtain ballots for 1,300 students. Elections have been decided by fewer votes than that. If all 1,300 of those students, plus the rest of the student body that (hopefully) is already registered votes, that’s close to 8,000 votes being cast across the country. These votes matter.
That’s true especially if you’re one of the 26 percent of NU students that are from swing states, according to Kim Castle, Weinberg sophomore and the voter registration coordinator for NU Decides. Acosta-Licea said that while many students registered in Evanston, NU Decides encouraged registering in your home county if your state is still up in the air. I’m a Virginia resident, and for the first time since 1964, my state is looking to switch from red to blue. My vote as a Democrat might actually count for something other than a number on the losing side.
But what about after this election? I wonder if our political passion will die after Nov. 4. NU Decides has given us the opportunity to begin a habit of democratic participation, and we should take the chance to remain politically active even after this election. If NU Decides has taught us anything, it is that small groups make a big impact.
Instead of focusing solely on the presidential race, we should be looking beyond to smaller elections. Local referendums, the school board elections, the county clerks and the city councilmen that are being voted upon back at home all matter. The axiom goes: “All politics is local” and it’s true. In the end, who the president is will not have a direct impact on you. It is your state senators that determine transportation funding, helping to relieve traffic and institute lower car taxes. Your governor will be the one cutting your old high school’s budget, getting rid of the music program that you spent four years of your life in. State and county governments hold the ultimate power in the things that affect our daily lives.
In local elections, your single vote will matter more. Turn out in local elections is typically low. Want to feel like a civic superhero? Vote in the smallest elections with the same enthusiasm as a national election. Your vote will carry more weight.
If the race itself doesn’t seem compelling, do some research. Part of what makes a national race so compelling is the human aspect—the knowledge of the individuals involved and all of their drama. Learn about your local candidates, find the narrative, get emotionally involved and then take that passion to the polls.
Finally, let your political fervor seep into something that definitely affects you: ASG. Not even half of the undergraduate community voted in last year’s ASG elections, according to ASG president Neal Sales-Griffin. While that is about on target with the national turnout rate for young adults of 46 percent nationwide, it should be much higher. After all, the leadership of ASG determines what funding our student groups receive. You only get to complain about poor funding if you played a part in deciding who apportioned the money.
NU Decides has made it easy for us to voice our passion in this election, and hopefully every election to follow. Weinberg freshman Wesley Sutton simply had to put down her “local address and home address…and NU Decides sent it in for me. It would have been a longer process, I think, if NU Decides hadn’t been there.”
Weinberg senior Steven Eilers felt the same way: “I used NU Decides to get my absentee ballot. I found it to be an easy process and will most likely get more involved with politics after this election.”
Follow Eilers’s lead and get involved. It’s up to us to continue with what NU Decides has equipped us to do: jump on the bandwagon of political enthusiasm. Vote early (meaning now!), vote often (every election until you die!) and pick up a sticker or two at the voting booth.