It’s a known fact that in our country, the voting age gap has been a problem in recent years.  The last few elections have had an extremely low voter turnout for voters under the age of 30, which is a cause for concern.

 Unfortunately, the general populace doesn’t understand the power it holds and is more prone to sedentary complaints as opposed to active participation.  The common ideology is that people in the government are incompetent workers, yet at the same time they are scheming, corrupt individuals.

 Looking at politics with this sort of self-contradicting mindset leads to voter discouragement because it’s assumed that nothing can be done about the problems in the government.  The truth is, the people have all the power they need to make a change. The incompetent incumbents are there because we, the people, voted for them.  No matter how much corruption goes on within Congress, the people’s vote will always be the deciding factor in who is selected.

 Such is the case in the upcoming elections in 2016.  The general populace feels that their vote doesn’t count because of the fact that the popular vote has no effect on who becomes the President because of the fact that the President is elected by the Electoral College.  However, this is untrue, partly because it is the people of the country who vote for members of the electoral college, who then vote for the President.  There is a specific system in place which allows for the votes of the population to matter.  

When asked about his feelings towards voting in the upcoming election Manik Trikha (12), a member of JSA, said, “It feels good because you really have the power to choose the future for your country; every vote matters.  [If] People keep thinking that voting doesn’t matter then they’re the reason the vote doesn’t matter because a large number of people have the same ideology.  It’s important for us young people to vote in the upcoming election because it’s our future that is being affected the most.”  

It’s important to note that the younger generation is stepping up, especially at Vernon Hills High School, and with that sort of integrity one can see that the possibility of generating a larger affect on politics is in the foreseeable future.