Staff Ed: Students need to take voting seriously
2 min read
The Weekly Ringer Editorial Board discusses the intention behind their April Fool's edition.
THE BLUE & GRAY PRESS STAFF EDITORIAL BOARD
Oct. 12 marked the last day to register to vote in the state of Virginia. The upcoming election will decide who will be our new governor, but, more importantly, what our new policies will be. As college students, we need to educate ourselves about how each candidate’s platform might affect us, and we need to vote for the candidate that’s right for us and for our community.
If you have a job, their policies may affect your wages. If you feel strongly about civil rights, like immigration or reproductive rights, or accessibility to healthcare, then you should conduct research to see which candidate aligns with your views. For this election, the need for student perspectives is crucial since this decision will be with us for the next four years and the policies will last even longer.
College students have an extensive amount of resources to help them learn about the different candidates such as political clubs on campus, Simpson Library and educated professors. In utilizing these resources that we have the privilege to access on our campus, it is our responsibility to understand the importance of voting and how the elected candidate can affect the way society functions even more.
The polls are open until Oct. 30 for absentee and mail-in voting and Nov. 2 for in-person voting. With one candidate representing each party, Terry McAuliffe for the Democratic Party and Glenn Youngkin for the Republican Party, it is important to vote for principles and not for candidates based on their party affiliation.
Each of the candidates have selected a few topics that are most crucial to their platforms. A few of Terry McAuliffe’s platforms are: combating climate change, civil and voting rights, higher wages and affordable healthcare. Glenn Youngkin focuses on creating more jobs, funding law enforcement programs and investing money in roads and highways.
Paying attention to differing news outlets and listening to the speeches and propositions made by each of the candidates is the best way to avoid bias when researching the election and who to vote for.
While students aren’t required to vote, your vote is how you make the changes you want to see your government. The easy option is to not vote, but then you put the decision in everyone else’s hands. You have the power to decide your future and how it will affect you.
