Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

mooscaretaker OP t1_ituxryd wrote

My concern is that young voters are underrepresented in elections and how do we get them out to vote? Most of the issues facing the country today will affect young (35 and younger) residents and yet they tend to be the least likely to vote. I admit to being a Dem and notice in my community it's mostly older conservatives who come out.

7

canibringmydog t1_ituydda wrote

I think they’re just louder. I don’t feel the need to put 30 yard signs that clearly scream party over people.

9

Ryland42 t1_itv112g wrote

I know of at least mother of a HS senior who's son is working on getting all of his friends to vote.

7

Proof-Variation7005 t1_itvdbf6 wrote

That is the shit that will help. Resisting apathy and frankly peer pressuring people. People who sit out and refuse to participate because they don't like a candidate or their candidate didn't win or whatever the reason really needs to get more pushback. Normalize yelling at your friends who try to sit it out.

5

Proof-Variation7005 t1_itvclad wrote

>My concern is that young voters are underrepresented in elections and how do we get them out to vote?

I like that this question has the answer inside it. The needs and views of younger voters are disproportionately underrepresented because they don't show up. 2020 was the highest voter turnout in like 60 years and probably the easiest one to vote in with practically every state making early and mail voting an option.

Turnout among 18-24 year old people was still under 50%.

In midterms and primaries and normal years, that turnout gets a LOT worse.

There's not really an easy fix to that turnout. You can't force people to care. Unless we wanna do something like reinstituting the draft and maybe being a bit more aggressive internationally, I don't really think there's some magic way to compel younger people to care about issues. You would think climate issues alone would be enough, especially since today's crop of younger voters grew up with that looming over their heads, but still....48% in 2020. It'll probably be even lower in a couple weeks.

7

crystalistwo t1_itwced3 wrote

"No one represents us." - The largest voting group in the country that only partially votes.

5

mooscaretaker OP t1_itvdljn wrote

Yeah - it's disheartening to me. It shouldn't be like this esp in state with so much diversity and density.

4

brick1972 t1_itv04ny wrote

This is true based on actual surveys and my own anecdotal experience working polls. It's one of the big reasons people want election day to be a holiday so that young working people can get to the polls.

I also have to admit that progressives I feel undermine the process of trying to engage young voters with the "mainstream dems are just as bad as republicans" noise which creates a disaffected voting bloc. How many posts revolve around "don't vote for mainstream dems because it rewards the party that didn't choose our specific candidates". Most importantly for the current state of our country I want to point out the large volume of the "protest vote for Bernie Sanders and/or don't vote at all" in 2016.

4

mooscaretaker OP t1_itvc7uy wrote

I really agree with this. I'm a parent of 20 somethings and this was a major topic of discussion with my kids. I get the dissatisfaction with the Dem party but watching progressives condemn everything and not reaching anyone outside this limited sphere to vote for them or work with them is concerning. Everyone should listen to the concerns of others even if you don't agree so you can understand them

3

Proof-Variation7005 t1_itvf6no wrote

>one of the big reasons people want election day to be a holiday so that young working people can get to the polls.

To be blunt, they want a day off for (mostly white) middle class office workers. There are definitely access issues for voting but it's easy enough to fix without a holiday that will still leave people working in retail, food service, hospitality and plenty of other industries without help.

  • Make early / mail voting an available option with a range of times/days and adequate locations. Promote the fuck out of it because I'd bet a lot of people in Rhode Island don't realize they've been able to vote for a week.
  • In denser urban populations, provide adequate staff, facilities, and equipment for voting. Fund elections properly. Even with one-day voting, it's a failure of our society that you have insanely long lines that always seem to occur in heavily non-white districts in cities. Have backup equipment for everything. Test shit. Staff properly. The lines never needed to be that long.
  • Penalties for employers who actively try to deny their employees from voting. The longer the early voting window, the less you need this.

​

I'll happily accept a day off and all but if you want to actually solve the problem? Election Day as a holiday doesn't do the job nearly as well.

​

> I also have to admit that progressives I feel undermine the process of trying to engage young voters with the "mainstream dems are just as bad as republicans" noise which creates a disaffected voting bloc. How many posts revolve around "don't vote for mainstream dems because it rewards the party that didn't choose our specific candidates". Most importantly for the current state of our country I want to point out the large volume of the "protest vote for Bernie Sanders and/or don't vote at all" in 2016.

1000000% agreed. That hasn't helped.

3