BLACKSBURG, Va. – Since 2016, every election has seen an increase in young people voting.
“I have a say now,” said Marc Akl, a student at Virginia Tech.
Thousands of first-time voters are getting ready for Tuesday, and to learn about their role in the election, I met with political expert Dr. Karen Hult to talk about how young people are approaching election day.
“People were sorting themselves clearly: I’m a Democrat, I’m a Republican,” said Hult. “We’re seeing a little bit less of that among younger voters. More people are calling themselves independents. It’s not clear to me if that affects how they are actually going to cast ballots.”
She said she is interested to see if the trend continues like in previous elections.
“It may well be that there may be a bit of a drop off in this particular election, but we will see how that plays out,” Hult said.
I then went around Virginia Tech’s campus asking students if they are voting. The answers I got varied.
I got some students who said they plan to vote, some who already had, and others who were not.
“It was the way I was raised,” said Akl on voting. “Both my parents find it very important.”
“I am not going to,” said Mariah McAfee, another student. “I think you should have the right education before voting and I just need to get educated.”
For many of the students, whether they planned to vote in this election or not, they said it is an important right to have.
“It’s incredibly important to have even a little bit of say in what or who leads the country,” said Benny Ford, a student at Virginia Tech.
“If there is some people not voting, then whoever may be elected, in whatever position, may not be accurate to what the population of the country actually wants,” Akl said.
It is clear though one of the biggest questions that will be answered from this election: will this be another historical turnout for young people?