You’re young, so vote!

Posted by admin on Sep 30, 2008 in Volume 14 Issue 1 | 0 comments

You’ve complained about them before: they can’t do anything right, they don’t understand your needs, you feel misrepresented because of your young age. No, they are not your parents. But for all your complaining and mutual ranting among friends, the government remains an unseen, distant and impersonal source of power.

The reasons to vote are many, from having control in your country’s administration, to respecting history; the truth is, you are much more influential than you believe. As a democracy the government is the people – and the people means you. Being a member of the government then, your every idea, opinion and agenda is important and will be listened to should you choose to voice it. Yet for some reason, on Election Day the most energetic and lively part of the population only represented around 25 per cent (2000) and 37 per cent (2004) compared to over 60 per cent of the general population. With the ideas and the capability, there is no reason why you should not be voting.

An important motivation for you to register this year is that without knowing what your opinions are, those who are powerful enough to do anything about it won’t know how to represent you. So while you may know exactly what would work best to lower gas emissions – whether it’s carbon taxes or no carbon taxes – that’s of little use to your country and even to you if you do not represent your views through your votes. In other words, why complain on a small scale? Vote and your friends won’t be the only victims.

Being involved politically, even in the simple action of voting, is another way to keep your government clean of corruption. Consider communism, fascism, and various corrupted governments both in history and today – the downfalls of these authoritative positions could be prevented if more people were involved in the issues and actions that the leaders and rulers were dealing with. A democratic government is founded upon that basic tenet. However, if people are not showing a sufficient presence to embody their group in the population, then the administration of our country can hardly be called a democracy. The entire country depends on you to participate – and you, and you, and you!

The essentials of democracy also show that it is your right to vote, as a woman, a man, a free citizen, independent of race or class. Consider the Suffragettes in Canada and the United States, and countries where people are dying to have the freedom to vote. To honour the people that have fought for those rights, and to respect the country in which you safely reside, the act of voting is an act of freedom, privilege and even veneration.

The issue of money is an important one, especially for us students; this is an excellent incentive to vote, since our government has control over a very large portion of our money. Depending on your interests, the candidate you vote for may plan to put more money toward youth programs, the environment, HIV/AIDS, breast cancer research and various other causes. Find out, and make your concerns their concerns.

And finally, there are fun reasons to vote, like canceling out someone else’s vote – your mom, your friend, your professor – and to break the stereotype that “young people are lazy and don’t vote.”

Really, every vote counts. There have been many close calls in elections and your vote could truly be the tiebreaker. Consider that since the 1800s in the US alone, one vote has been the tiebreaker in twenty-one elections. So do our country and yourself a favour: vote this year.

Don’t know how to vote? We can tell you how here .