CMU democrats and republicans share why students should vote
By the time they get to college, most Central Michigan University students will be able to vote for the first time.
Students can make a difference, by voting in the upcoming election, said Jonathan Thebo, chair of College Republicans at Central Michigan University.
“(Our age group has) a very low turn out, so it’s time for millennials to start realizing if you vote and we start getting high turn outs, candidates on all levels will adjust their campaigns based on what millennials care about,” Thebo said.
Most millennials have a history of not showing up to the polls on election day. Political groups at CMU shared why it's important to exercise the right to vote and how new or young voters can navigate the process.
With coverage in the media about the 2016 presidential election, it’s more common for students to pay attention to the presidential race, Thebo said, but there’s more that can be done on the local level. Nov. 3 is General Election Day, and Thebo said it’s important to understand all levels of government. The city elections are also on Tuesday, and the outcome could directly affect CMU students.
“With all the college students here, (students voting) sways the vote either way,” said Hannah Breuker, public relations representative of College Republicans. “It definitely affects your community at a very local and federal level.”
Finding out more information about local elections can be more challenging, but on-campus organizations, city and county clerk offices and online resources are some places that provide information, said Samuel McNerney, president of College Democrats at CMU.
“If you’re here in Mount Pleasant, where you can live, how fast you can drive, how much you pay in taxes out of your bill every month — all of that’s going to be set by the state and local officials that you’re electing so it’s important to know what’s going on,” he said.
These decisions are going to be made whether or not students get involved, McNerney said, and he thinks most people would rather have some input in these decisions.
Breuker said if students are frustrated with something, they can reach out to representatives and ask for an explanation.
“These people who we elect aren’t just in this glass bubble that we can’t touch,” she said. “It’s important to know (representatives) are reachable because they are supposed to represent you.”
For the presidential elections, it’s important to do a lot of research using different sources to get all sides of the story, she said.
Breuker recommends starting with Google searches about different issues and candidates.
Online quizzes that show people which candidates they align with have also become popular. Breuker said that with the amount of candidates, the quizzes are a great start.
“They take some things out of context, especially the broader issues, but they do kind of get you started on, ‘this candidate is with me on these ideas’ and then look up what the candidate actually believes to know for sure,” she said.
For people who are undecided, McNerney said watching the debates is important, though doing more research is necessary.
When taking the next step after initial research, Thebo recommends looking at candidates’ voting records and fact checks of the debates.
“It’s always taking that next step and looking up what their voting record is and what they’ve done in the past,” Breuker said. “It’s easy to see someone get up there and start talking and you don’t realize that three years before, they said the complete opposite thing.”
Breuker also recommends looking up candidates’ plans and how they intend to execute them.
“At the moment, it’s really just looking at the party that makes the most sense to you and looking at the candidates,” she said. “Within the party, they have similar ideals, but in other ways, their plans and their execution of those plans is going to make the biggest difference.”
It’s also important for people to separate themselves from the hyper-partisan viewpoints that are prevalent right now, McNerney said.
“It’s important to step back and say, ‘you know, I’m not going to listen to that. I’m going to look at what they actually believe in,’ because so much of politics is who can say the most sensational thing,” McNerney said. “I think it’s really important to try to figure out where people stand outside of that.”
When students get involved and informed, they can make a change, Breuker said, but they have to do research.
“The parties themselves aren’t going to do it for you,” she said.
As frustrating as it is sometimes, Breuker said, people can’t avoid politics, because people’s lives are impacted by these decisions.
If students start voting more, McNerney said, politics wouldn’t just be about people making decisions for them.
“(If students voted more), we could say, ‘politics is about people who listen to us because we’re going to make them listen to us.”
To figure out if you’re registered to vote, find your precinct and obtain information on absentee voting, you can visit Michigan.gov/vote.
