The UNC campus has been inundated with people, handouts, and signs encouraging students to vote.  Professors get on a soapbox pleading for us to cast a ballot for any candidate.  The message, a good message, is that exercising the right to vote is what is really important.

It is important to remind college students of the value of civic participation considering we have the longest to deal with any policy changes.

Why the reluctance to take a few minutes to vote?  Why the apathy regarding the most guaranteed method we have to change policies?

And should we really be encouraging voting with such vigor if young people are uninterested or so reluctant?

The answer is yes.

Voting is a civic duty.  It demonstrates respect for our elected officials and system of government.  Every college student has taken a class that described the disenfranchisement, oppression, or outright violence that citizens of other nations must face in order to voice their opinions.

When we choose not to vote, because it will not make a difference or it will take too much effort, we do not respect the struggle of so many other people to make their voice heard.

 

— Lauren Teegarden

 

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