Youth voters are crucial to helping shape policy priorities, deciding local races that can often affect campus life through things like student rentals and public transit and building long-term civic power. Ithaca students need to register to vote and actually show up to local polls because their collective choices directly shape housing, transit, tuition and climate policy in both the city of Ithaca and Tompkins County as a whole.
Young voters should be actively engaging with their politics, not just casting ballots for government officials. Student voters can decide to register either in their hometown elections, or in Ithaca’s local election. This means student voters must think critically about where their vote has the most direct impact, and where they feel most connected and affected by policy decisions.
Voters between the ages of 18-29 have historically lagged compared to older demographics. In fact, the 2018 midterm elections broke records for the highest youth voter turnout, where only 28% of young, registered voters came to the polls.
Ithaca’s large population of students from both Ithaca College and Cornell University means that students affect life more than just making up a majority of the youth population in Ithaca; it means that youth can enact real political change.
By attending local government meetings, political rallies and participating in campus discussions, young voters can engage with their politics in meaningful, ongoing ways — much more than just casting a vote.
Students can attend Common Council or Tompkins County Legislature meetings, where debates over housing, public transportation and sustainability can directly affect student life. These forums also provide ample opportunities to speak during public comment periods, where student voices can highlight how policies impact their lives.
By advertising their perspectives, youth can influence what issues dominate some candidates’ campaigns. This participation can encourage candidates to recognize student concerns in their platforms.
Youth participation can push the political agenda toward sustainability, equity and social justice; all of which are major priorities to many Ithaca locals. In doing so, they not only strengthen local democracy, but also help ensure that the policies shaping Ithaca reflect the voices of those who will inherit its future.
The average American voter is over 50, meaning that the older generations continue to have disproportionate influence over policy decisions that can affect young people’s futures. From climate policy to student debt relief, many of the pressing issues being debated today will have the greatest impact on those just starting their adult lives. The younger a voter is, the longer they will be affected by policies enacted.
A true, representative democracy means intergenerational balance, where everyone’s voice is being heard no matter their age; but, for this to happen, it means that young people need to actively show up to the polls.
Not only do youth voters shape the current, everyday life of Ithaca locals, but they also set a precedent; voting at a young age increases the probability of lifelong civic participation, including in major and minor races. There are true long-term democratic benefits beyond a single local election.
Students have numerical power, local stakes and a civic duty to vote. Youth voters can change current policies, and start to build the government they will continue to live under for the rest of their lives.
