“Good morning, ma’am! Thank you for coming out to vote today,” a campaigner standing in the parking lot called out as I headed for the polls at my local library.
When I do new things, it helps to have a point of reference, like a familiar location. I had chosen to vote early so that I could vote at the location of my choice in the county.
When I walked through the doors, there was a greeter to my right, ready to direct me to where I could check in. “Good morning. Can you confirm your name and address please?” After confirming, I listened while the volunteer explained the next steps.
“We have two primaries available today, the Republican primary and the Democrat primary. Can you please select which one you’d like to participate in?” I clicked the button, and a ballot printed out with my races. “Thank you! You may go to any of our booths and let any one of us know if you have any questions.”
I took my ballot and the piece of paper that I had brought, marked with the candidates I knew I wanted to vote for. I had spent two hours the night before researching every single person on the sample ballot so that I was prepared going in.
When I finished bubbling in my response, I fed my ballot into a machine that counted my vote. On my way out, I got my “I voted” sticker, which I was supremely excited about.
And that was it.
Except that I had been preparing to vote for months ahead of this single day.
I missed the 2024 presidential election, the first in which I could have cast a ballot. I went to college in Arkansas, but never fully moved there, so I was only eligible to vote in my home county in Texas. The reason I missed the registration deadline was because I couldn’t figure out how to register and mail in my ballot, and I was so incredibly busy at that time of my life. Two jobs, school, planning a wedding … It was a lot. I told myself it wasn’t a big deal, lots of people do the same thing. But I felt disappointed in myself, and ultimately that I had missed a critical moment.
My reasons for skipping the 2024 election are some of the most common ones keeping the voter turnout for young people low: Today’s young adults are busy, tired, more likely to have moved, less likely to have registered in time, and be invested in their community. On top of all of that, young people are becoming increasingly disillusioned with the current political climate and are therefore disengaging overall.
After the 2024 election, 36% percent of unregistered 18- to 34-year-olds surveyed by the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, or CIRCLE, said their primary reason for not registering to vote was that voting was “not important to me.” Another 18% said they didn’t have time, and 14% reported that they missed the registration deadline.
While it didn’t feel like an advantage in the moment, one of the reasons that I was able to make sure I had everything squared away this time around was that I got married last year and changed my last name. I updated all of my documents, including my driver’s license, with my new last name and new address and was able to register to vote at the same time. I got my voter registration card in the mail a few weeks later.
When the primaries came around, all I had to do was make sure I knew where to go when, whom to vote for, and why. At that point, everything felt so much more manageable because the hard part – registration – was over.
So, my best advice to those who have never voted before – particularly young adults like me – is to make the system work for you. You only have to learn how to vote once. Then voting becomes habitual – a regular function in adult life. If you start now, everything will be so much easier when you go to the polls in November.
As I drove to work afterward, I couldn’t shake my complete and utter pride in myself for making my voice heard and in America, where we have the privilege of getting to contribute to a democracy such as this.
As we talk about here at the Bush Institute, Democracy Is a Verb. It is action and contribution and collaboration. By its very nature, democracy requires its citizens to be, and stay, engaged.
So, vote messy, vote tired, vote busy. Vote when life gets in the way. Vote informed, and vote proudly. Vote because your voice CAN be and WILL be heard. Vote because our democracy needs you.
