Elliot Fylstra|Marlin Chronicle
Colleges are often seen as bastions of political engagement, but according to the Pew Research Center, voters between 18 and 29 only accounted for 11% of the voting population in 2018 and 2022. Students on the Virginia Wesleyan campus held similar conflicting views on civic engagement, some believing in the importance of voting, while others plan to abstain.
Avery Lewis, a sophomore, emphasized the importance of voting, saying, “I believe it’s laimportant to vote, just so that everyone’s voice is heard. That’s the only way change is going to be made, is if people get out and actually vote.”
Lewis explained some issues that made voting important to her including women’s reproductive rights, climate change and same-sex marriage. “Stuff like that, stuff that could affect me, my friends, my family and a lot of future generations to come,” Lewis said, explaining why these issues were so important to her.
Lewis also explained that if she could make any change to voting in the country, she would get rid of the Electoral College.
Daquan Smith, also a sophomore, explained that he planned to vote, saying, “I feel like it’s my place to vote for our country.”
“I feel like everybody chipping in, knowing what we need to do for our country is important. So I feel like knowing where to put that trust in a person kind of matters because the country is not where it should be,” Smith said, explaining why he believes it’s important to vote.
Kaitlyn Duswalt, a senior, had conflicted views on the election, saying that she didn’t plan on voting because, “I feel like my vote wouldn’t really matter too much for the outcome.”
“I feel like the two-party system makes it really hard to vote. I feel like there’s two extremes and I think, at least from what I’m hearing from both sides, I don’t identify with either,” Duswalt said.
Christopher Mercer-Garrett is a sophomore and the leader of the Young Democrats organization on campus. Mercer-Garrett and the Young Democrats are planning an event for later this month on voting. “It’ll be giving students the opportunity to look at a pamphlet, get some more information about us, but also the pamphlet includes how to register to vote, how to make a plan, things of that nature,” Mercer-Garrett said.
When asked about important issues for his vote, Mercer-Garrett said, “Reproductive rights for me is going to be important, because my mom had a lot of complications when she had my sister, including almost dying due to the lack of one thing, transparency between doctors, certain standards weren’t met.”
“She didn’t even have an abortion and there were still limitations after the fact, like she wanted to have her tubes tied for the simple reason that if she was to have a child again she would definitely die, and that elective surgery took about a year just to plan,” Mercer-Garrett said.
“I’m not just gonna say it’s important to vote, but it’s about knowing the candidates and what their policy is, and that comes with research before voting,” Mercer-Garrett said.
“When we talk about telling someone to just vote, it’s dangerous to tell someone to just vote and they vote for someone who either doesn’t fit their needs or they’re just doing whatever’s easiest, and the thing is, when it comes down to voting, it’s important to understand that it’s nobody’s business to know who you voted for, whether it’s your friends, your family, that’s no one’s business,” Mercer-Garrett said.
The Young Democrats will be tabling on Oct. 16 at noon in the Batten Center. Students can register to vote at vote.gov or in the Wesleyan Engaged Office. If you register to vote in your home state, if it’s not Virginia, you can request an absentee ballot, however, students who reside on campus can decide to register to vote in the campus’s precinct instead of their home precinct.
By Aiden Croghan
