As a senior at NNHS High School, I will finally be able to vote in the presidential election next year. It’s more important now than ever to know what’s going on in politics and to keep up with current events. Whether you believe it or not, every decision in politics will affect you. It’s our responsibility as citizens to vote because our opinions matter and our voices need to be heard. Think about it, in four short years, most of us will be graduating college, starting jobs, paying taxes, and this election will impact our future lives in a major way. 

This year, students in Urban History were assigned a project to register as many students to vote as possible. Sean van Dril, a former NNHS student, created a digital program to help high schoolers get registered to vote called RegiStart. He reached out to the urban history classes and had the students ask their friends to register to vote. Each student had to get at least 10 of their friends to register to vote. In just 5 days, the number of NNHS seniors registered to vote increased from 93 to 336, which is nearly half of the senior class according to the Chicago Tribune.

Most politicians do not pay as much attention to the opinions of the younger generations. Less than half of people ages 18-29 are registered to vote, and only about 36% of those registered voted in 2018. Voter turnout was nearly double for those 65 and older, so generally politicians will pay more attention to their wishes. If we can increase voter registration in 18-29 year olds, our voices will have much more of an impact on political choices because politicians will want our votes. If you have an opinion on politics, it is very important that you get your voice out there and vote so that you can be heard. 

There are a lot of different reasons that people may choose not to vote, but the biggest reason is that people do not think that their opinions will matter in the election. If you are a Democrat in a state that is mostly Republican, or vice versa, you may believe that your vote will not count because you are not a part of the majority. However, if an election is close, your vote will always matter and it could make a difference in who wins the election. On November 5th, the Senate Elections took place, and in Virginia, a state known for being mostly Republican, the majority of the seats went to Democrats. This is huge because it means that the voters completely changed the outlook of the election. A couple of votes could completely change an election, and it’s so important that our voices are heard. 

As citizens of the United States, it is so important that we do our civic duty and vote in the elections. Every single vote matters, and it is imperative that we make our voices heard. When we get our first job and have to start paying taxes, we will care who is in charge and what they are funding, so we must vote now because our future is in our hands.