Liam Barret: Why You Vote In a Blue State

November 8 will mark the 2016 general election. If you are active on social media, or even have some perception of the world outside, you’ll know that this has been a particularly heated election season. But for all the yelling and fighting, there’s one thing we see far less of around elections, especially on college campuses: voting.

As the Executive Director of SOVAC (the Student Organized Voter Access Committee), I can testify that UCSD doesn’t escape this trend. Of the students we manage to contact, only about 10 percent will register to vote. Even fewer will actually vote. Among those who reject registrations, the reasons are fairly consistent:

“We’re in California, my vote won’t make a difference”

Or, simply

“I’m not voting.” Nothing else said.

These reasons share two things in common: people seem to believe them, and they’re just plain incorrect. While it might be hard to see, your vote can in fact make a difference, and even if the system is broken, sitting the election out will only worsen it.

Besides an exercise in civics, each individual vote actually does have a strong impact on the outcome of the election. While no college student in California is going to decide the next President of the United States, we have the great opportunity to affect the outcomes of our city, regional, and state elections.

These races often seem unimportant and small, but in reality they have great impact on our daily lives. Local elections can be the deciders in whether your rent goes up, whether you can take the bus to school in the morning, and whether you’ll have access to affordable housing and a living wage once you graduate. State elections and representatives hold direct sway over the quality of your college experience, including UC funding, scholarships, and tuition costs.

Local elections can often be contentious, and several recent San Diego races have come down to a margin smaller than the total amount of UCSD students eligible to vote. The California 49th Congressional District, UCSD’s home district, is the home to one of the most heated battles of the 2016 election, pitting incumbent Darrell Issa against newcomer Colonel Doug Applegate in a race Issa was predicted to dominate, yet came down to a slightly more than five percent difference in the June primary. The San Diego City Council District 1 race resulted in the opposite, going from a close race to a blowout, largely because of the (presumptively) victorious campaign’s ability to mobilize UCSD students to their cause.

Voters also have the opportunity to participate in the practice of direct democracy via copious ballot measures. San Diego voters have the opportunity to vote on a variety of ballot measures present on November 8’s ballot, ranging from the legalization of recreational marijuana use to whether the City of San Diego will be paying for a new Chargers Stadium. These ballot measures provide voters direct access to legislation, giving full authority to and empowering the people to decide their laws for themselves. Each individual vote will contribute to the direct implementation of each and every passed amendment to the California Constitution.

The last reservation of the non-voter is the protestation of the vote, the refusal to participate in a broken system that doesn’t care about them. While refusing to vote might seem like a bold statement to the established institutions, it is not. By not voting, you accept the broken system. Though you may have the privilege to stay at home on Election Day knowing the effects of this election will affect you minimally, millions of Americans do not have that same luxury. For them, this election puts their entire future into question, spells the difference between opportunity and hopelessness, employment and joblessness, security and fear. For them, this election means everything.

You can’t put out a burning building by turning your back on it while others rush in with hoses and buckets. Sitting quietly in a dark room is not protest. Refusing to vote is not a political statement. It is surrender. Surrender to the will and whim of others, surrender of your right to have your voice heard. It is the surrender of your future.

So vote. Vote to change the future or to protect the present. Vote for the sake of your friend struggling to pay rent. Vote for your parents, who never had the opportunities you did, and for your children, so they may have opportunities you never dreamed of. Vote for the sake someone who cannot vote themselves, for whom this election may mean everything. Vote as if your life depends on it… because it very well may.

California’s registration deadline is October 24th.

To register to vote, go to sovac.ucsd.edu/register/instructions

For more information, go to sovac.ucsd.edu

Liam Barrett is the Executive Director of the Student Organized Voter Access Committee at UCSD.