Young Voters Can Impact Their Key Issues – If They Vote by Jenna Thomas

 

We are less than 40 days away from election day, Tue 11/6, and days away from early voting.

It is around this time of the year Ohioans feel a bit more special. Not only are we a swing state, but we are a state notably divided between the liberal urban areas and the more conservative rural south, and our counties have been gerrymandered beyond recognition. Candidates with an average age between 57 and 61 then ask us, young voters, to allow them to make legislature that will impact countless areas of our lives.

However, like in any chaotic or urgent situation, there is a diffusion of responsibility. Young people, whose opinions are too often overlooked, receive this opportunity and fail to follow through. We are witnessing a formative time in American politics, just as we had ten years ago when young voters turned out in great numbers to elect Barack Obama. I am not asserting that there was ever a time in politics when young people did not have to vote — but this is why I am voting in November.

One in every four women on college campuses is sexually assaulted, and though underreported, many men are also impacted by this culture. Regardless, campuses do very little to protect those survivors or hold abusers accountable. Our Secretary of Education Betsy Devos (whose yacht saw more of Cleveland while adrift in Lake Erie than she ever has) pushes a program to protect the rights of those accused of sexual assault. We have heard audio of our elected President brag openly about non-consensual groping. Brett Kavanaugh has been credibly accused of attempted rape, but there is a very real possibility he will be confirmed. The GOP does not take these threats against women seriously.

With death tolls due to mass shootings, as well as domestic shootings and random street shootings, these midterms could literally save lives. Those who believe assault weapons are protected under the Second Amendment not only pose a threat to students of all ages around the country, but ultimately pose a threat to anyone who leaves their house. People are not safe in church, during concerts, or even getting late-night munchies at the Waffle House. I am not trying to make light of these atrocities, but I hope all of us can recognize that these victims were in safe places doing things that you and I do every day. For me, the March For Our Lives has been inspiring to watch, and to think this movement was born out of unimaginable tragedy makes you hope for real change. The great majority of Republicans will not budge on this issue. We must elect people who will stand up against the NRA, who will not push for armed guards and metal detectors to keep ourselves and our younger siblings safe in school, who will change the culture around mass shootings.

I know some of us are still a few years away from being kicked off of our parent’s insurance, if they themselves can still afford it — but that time will come. Republicans will continue to try desperately to repeal the Affordable Care Act, meaning whichever respiratory illnesses you have contracted from juuling could cost you a chunk of change. If the U.S. could join the 32 countries that provide universal health care, poor and middle class Americans would not be one emergency away from bankruptcy. But this is nowhere near the end of the list. My gay and trans friends are becoming less safe as homophobic culture becomes more acceptable. Police brutality in and around Cleveland remains a gross human rights violation. My friends will be leaving college tens of thousands of dollars in debt. Drug addiction persists among my age group, remaining untreated and unprotected by policy. There are candidates who will fight these issues.

State representative Nickie Antonio, who is running for state senate, lives a block away from me. I might spot her, her wife and two daughters enjoying the sunset at Lakewood Park’s solstice steps. Lieutenant governor candidate Betty Sutton shook dozens of sweaty hands, including my own, this past July 4th as she walked with fellow Democrats in our humble Independence Day Parade. Not everyone on the ballot this November is a corrupt, mindless or greedy politician. We have people in our communities that can represent you and your peers in Washington, but only if we together go out and vote.

Jenna Thomas is a sophomore at Cleveland State University studying nonprofit administration and Spanish. She is particularly interested in refugee and immigrant services and criminal justice reform, and is a tutor at Building Hope in the City’s Hope Center. In addition, Jenna is the founder and president of CSU’s university chapter of Free the Slaves working to make CSU a certified Fair Trade University.

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