Student votes could make a difference
by Bernie Scheffler, editor-in-chief

   Election time will be here before we know it. The deadline to register to vote in the Nov. 5 election was Monday.

  If you registered, congratulations, but your job is not over yet. You still have to remember to actually show up at the polls between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. on election day. Don’t let bad weather or a few extra minutes of sleep keep you from doing your civic duty.

  On the other hand, if you didn’t register or don’t plan to vote … that’s okay too. I won’t give you a hard time like your government teacher does.

  But I do want you to remember as the officials elected serve their terms for the next four years that you didn’t vote.

  Before you complain about the job a political official is doing, remember that you didn’t exercise your right to help choose a better person for the job.

  Sure, right now you’re thinking that a single vote isn’t going to change the outcome of any race.

  Unfortunately, that’s true. One voter doesn’t make a huge difference. Large groups of voters change things.

  Here’s the good news: college-age students (18-25) consistently produce the worst voter turnout of any age group. If a higher percentage of students suddenly registered to vote and voted, things would be vastly different.

  Young people, who are generally less resistant to change than older voters, are far more likely to make choices that would improve the state of affairs in government.

  Our governments are pretty evenly split between conservative and liberal politicians, one reason our governments have seemed to stagnate recently.

  The voting numbers of college students, who are generally more liberal, could be greatly increased. This could give more progressive policy-makers a chance to actually make some changes.

  TCC has more than 30,000 students district-wide, most of whom (okay, maybe that’s wishful thinking on my part) read The Collegian.

  If even half of those students read this column and decide to vote in the next election, it would make a huge impact on the results.

  So vote. Remind your friends and family to vote also. Let’s see if we can make a difference.