By SHARI FRANK, guest columnist
“Voting is a fundamental right and all eligible voters should have the equal opportunity to exercise that right.”
The League of Women Voters of Brown County (LWVBC) supports this national LWV position. We are committed to educating voters on the issues, candidate positions and helping citizens vote.
Step 1 is registration. Every state sets its own laws about voter registration. Some states allow voter registration on election day. Some states have automatic voter registration.
Indiana closes registration a month before the election. Tuesday, Oct. 9 is the last day for Hoosiers to register before the general mid-term elections Nov. 6.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]Don’t let these difficulties prevent YOU from voting. Your voice, your vote, is worth the effort!
Go to IndianaVoters.com on your phone or computer to register, check registration, get a sample ballot, and find the polling place where to vote. Attend the LWV Brown County Candidate Forums at the Brown County Office Building Oct. 2, 3, 4, starting 6:30 p.m. to meet local candidates.
Wow, registering to vote was easy!
If you’ll be 18 by Nov. 6, you can register to vote!
Joshua Parry took time between classes to fill out the voter registration application at the LWVBC table at Brown County High School. “Wow, that was easy,” he said. He also pledged to vote Nov. 6.
LWVBC provided registration forms, voter guides and election information at BCHS in honor of National Voter Registration Day on Sept. 25. Many students commented as they passed by that they can’t vote this election, but look forward to when they can!
Thank you to Superintendent Laura Hammack and BCHS Principal Matt Stark for their enthusiastic welcome to LWVBC for education/registration efforts.
Only 28 percent plan to vote
Although millennials (18-34) are becoming the largest bloc of voters, a 2018 poll showed less than one in three (28 percent) of young adults, age 18 to 29, say they will definitely vote this November, compared to 74 percent of seniors. (Poll from the Public Religion Research Institute and the Atlantic conducted in June.)
Those who vote are the ones who elect the people who shape the laws that affect everyday lives.
Tell us something you care about
As students rushed by between classes or grabbing lunch, we tried to entice students to reply to our informal survey: “What issues do you care about? If you could get a message to policy makers/legislators, what would you want them to know?”
Survey responses covered a wide range of topics: Economic security, employment, health care, immigration, gun safety and mental health, to school policies and lunches. What a great reflection of the issues being discussed locally and across the country.
From the mouths of 45 Brown County High School students ages 14 to 18, survey responses below seem to represent the diversity across Brown County and the country.
1. School, college cost, minimum wage, apartments/housing, roads, gas, taxes
2. Too many potholes on roads; trees don’t get removed in time when they fall on the roads
3. Gay marriage, medical marijuana, drugs, medical industry, capitalism, gun laws
4. Legalize weed
5. I feel like that people should be able to help decide on what Trump wants to do.
6. To have a say in who runs our country and what laws are made
7. To have your own say in your country’s government
8. Immigration — Less people removed from the country
9. Food, family, my pets are special and important to me.
10. Lowering gas prices
11. I wish my health was better.
12. I would want gun laws to require a longer process before you could get one.
13. I’m kinda happy with immigration.
14. Family; music, mostly music
15. My dog
16. Money
17. I wish people could choose what money they make.
18. I want teachers to be paid more.
19. Money
20. Adderall abuse
21. Children running away from their homes
22. I care about the Marines.
23. What the U.S. needs is socialist Medicare. It is simply embarrassing that the world’s leading superpower is the only industrialized, developed country without free Medicare. It would be less expensive and more people can get the medical care they need. Sure, people would get more taxes, but I believe it is worth it to save more lives.
24. The dress code
25. No standardized testing in school systems anymore
26. I really care about women’s rights.
27. I care about the well being and treatment of immigrants in the U.S. and people in other countries that need help just surviving. I also care about women’s rights.
28. I care about jobs. We need to make jobs more available. Due to the high $7.25 minimum wage, it makes it hard for young people (like myself) to get a job and get working experience.
29. We need it man.
30. To have more breaks during school.
31. Gun laws (stay the same)
32. More access to Planned Parenthood services
33. I care about animals and who is elected most of the time.
34. If you vote for the wrong person, the USA will pay for it.
35. Health care, animal rights, education
36. School dress code — girls should be allowed to wear tank tops
37. A cleaner environment
38. Less potholes in roads
39. I want more drink options at lunch, more activities for school
40. I care about friends and sports.
41. Mental health services, extended healthcare coverage; air pollution/emission control
42. More safe environment
43. I would like to have better schools.
44. I would like to have gun laws less strict and not to have our rights taken.
45. Voting: In my opinion voting doesn’t matter. I personally don’t care who becomes president. I’m independent and it will forever stay like that.
Every vote matters
“In my opinion, voting doesn’t matter.” When I saw this student comment, it took me by surprise. Though voting apathy is an issue throughout the country, I had to wonder what caused someone so young to feel their vote doesn’t matter.
Voting is the only way to elect the people who will represent our positions, but who will also listen to all constituents and work toward compromise when needed. Tied elections are more common than we may think. In 2017 in Virginia, a tie was broken and a winner declared by drawing a name from a bowl! Control of the state’s house of delegates was decided by a random draw! Wouldn’t you rather vote on it? Every vote matters.
Shari Frank is the president of the League of Women Voters of Brown County. She can be reached through the newspaper at [email protected].
