By Alexa Jacinto
On November 5, public facilities across NYC will be opened up as voting sites for the most widely covered election cycle— and as the day approaches, Macaulay’s large batch of now eligible voters have a chance to advocate for themselves. Generally, presidential elections tend to get the most media coverage, largely due to the fact that they cover a vast array of political issues over a wider geographic scale. This year’s election will not only be a chance for new voters to familiarize themselves with the process, but also to gain an awareness of what their vote will truly entail. Below are a few noteworthy details about the status of youth voter turnout and what you should expect to see on a ballot.
Over the years, with the rapid development of communication mediums (news channels, radio stations, social media), politics has gotten more closely woven into mainstream culture, consistent with the rapidly increasing voter turnout among college students since 2016. Measured over a thousand campuses, youth voter turnout “skyrocketed” in the last presidential election of 2020, from 69% in 2016 to a whopping 80%. However, this rise in political participation mostly applies to presidential elections, as the overall voter turnout tends to dip during midterm elections. As of 2022’s midterm election, youth voter turnout dropped from 28% (in 2018) to 23%.
This drop was a fairly predictable outcome, given that presidential elections tend to get more limelight, but aside from that, an additional key factor in a student’s choice to vote is the lack of familiarity with a candidate, which again, can be traced back to the lack of media coverage on the local level. That is why it is optimal to go into a voting poll with full knowledge of your local representatives because a ballot contains more than the presidential candidates.
Even though the presidential vote gets the most attention, the popular vote typically has little impact on presidential outcomes due to the electoral college system— your voice is not guaranteed to have an impact on this section of the ballot. The elephant in the room is “Why should I vote if my popular vote won’t even matter in the electoral college?” Hence it is crucial to have an informed outlook before deciding whether to vote or not. Your vote bears much more weight than the electoral college system gives it credit for.
Electoral votes only impact the presidential result— ballot initiatives and candidates on the state and local level rest primarily on the popular vote. At the end of the day, when filling out a ballot sheet for the first time, the presidential candidates and their vice president nominations take up only a fraction of the sheet. Our voices are heard in different volumes depending on what we’re voting for, whether it’s on the federal, state, or local level.
“At first, I felt conflicted only because there was the thought that I wouldn’t get a direct say because of the electoral college system, so I didn’t know if I was going to make a big impact. I didn’t know if my vote was going to particularly matter,” says Habeba Mahmoud (‘28), who will be turning 18 just in time to register for this year’s election. “For us as the youth, Clinton’s election in 2016, when she won the popular vote but lost the electoral vote, set the stage for America’s mindset for the next four years.”
A ballot does not just contain a presidential and vice presidential candidate. It can also include the following:
- U.S. Senate or House of Representatives candidates
- State senator spots are up for grabs this election season, so a vote for your local candidate can have a direct effect on the policies in your area, as their legislative actions are much more tailored to their district.
- You will be asked to provide either a mandatory or optional referendum. Referendums, or ballot measures, are questions placed on a ballot for voters to provide direct opinions on proposed laws, amendments (of state constitutions), or local policies. These questions are often raised by local government entities, a state’s constitutional conventions, or citizen petitions. To see a breakdown of this year’s 6 ballot proposals, visit https://www.nycvotes.org/whats-on-the-ballot/2024-state-and-federal-general-election/2024-ballot-proposals/.
The state senator section is one of these popular-vote-based contests on New York State’s ballot this year. This section is particularly important to us as voters because they represent certain districts in the state and work on laws on the local level. These government figures work in a fashion very tailored to the needs of the neighborhoods within their district, which, compared to nationwide concerns, are much more specific. Their efforts in response to the needs of the citizens in their district are the most visible.
In the fall of 2023, Liam Gorman (‘26) worked as an intern for state senator Iwen Chu, who represents New York’s District 17 (Sunset Park, Bensonhurst, Bath Beach, Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, and Kensington). While canvassing for her, he observed notable changes in mere months. “When I asked people questions about what improvements they felt they needed to see in [Bensonhurst], I noticed that a lot of businesses had litter complaints. A good number of them wanted cleaner streets. From my own observation too, there were only one or two trash cans on a block, but the very old ones that you could tell weren’t replaced regularly,” says Gorman. “My job was to write down, ‘They need more garbage cans.’”
A simple complaint such as this speaks volumes to the impact of government officials like state senators, whose roles are designed to be closely attuned to local interests. “About a month or two later I decided to stop by the neighborhood with a friend and I realized that new upgraded trash cans were installed with separate ‘recycling’ and ‘trash’ sections. These definitely weren’t there before, and so I thought, ‘Oh wow, this is exactly what I wrote this down, that they needed new trash cans, and the next thing you know, they had new trash cans in the same area.”
Casting a vote for local representatives can go a long way. “That’s why essentially you have to look at the ballot in all aspects; it’s not just the president and the VP you have to think about. There’s a lot of things that come into play, and there’s a lot of other ways that your voice might actually matter. It might have a great impact within your state or even your neighborhood,” says Mahmoud.
Today’s voting system has evolved to accommodate the voices of as many voters as possible. There are quite a few voting outlets that cater to many people of many circumstances: other than the traditional medium of casting your vote at local polls, other forms of voting include mail-in ballots for those who are physically unable to show up. Brookdale, one of Macaulay Hunter’s dorm locations, as of 2023, was a location where polls were stationed. However, as of this year’s election, Brookdale has not yet confirmed if it will be a station again.
To find information about how you can exercise your right to vote, visit https://www.vote.org/, where you can find a complete checklist as well as what’s on your local ballot. To find out more about your own district representative and their legislative activity as of now, check out https://www.commoncause.org/ or https://pluralpolicy.com/open/.
