Our nation’s voting season is upon us. Daily we are hearing about our presidential candidates through television, news, radio, and social media. Individuals are already starting to form their opinion on who they will vote for in November.
According to “Young-Adult Voting: An Analysis of Presidential Elections,” it’s typical that in American elections, “young people have stood out for their consistently low levels of electoral participation.”
The importance of us voting is critical. By not casting a vote, we are not helping ourselves, and doing a disservice to our own country. If we want to see change or have our rights remain the same, we need to go out and vote. Regardless of whether or not, you agree with the candidates 100 percent, we need to find our common ground this November during the election. We spend too much emphasis on not voting rather than understanding and getting to know our candidates in one form or another.
We need to not only look at our presidential candidates, we also need to consider our local candidates to be tomorrow’s leaders. I had the opportunity to meet and speak with Javier Salazar. He is the current Democratic candidate running for Sheriff in Bexar County.
I got to know that he is a 23-year veteran San Antonio Police Officer. When I asked what qualities he can bring to the county and the job, Salazar replies that he wants to build a foundation in Bexar County.
“What I would like is to have a relationship between law enforcement and the residents.”
It is this type of understanding, we as students, need to be doing more. I listened to what he had to say for an hour, and it gave me an understanding of what issues are happening around our beautiful city.
If we can just take the time and pay attention to the upcoming presidential debate this evening and listen to what our local candidates have to say, then we can certainly be a little bit more educated on issues, rather than solely just plain saying no to voting.
If you are not registered to vote, you have the opportunity to get registered tomorrow at the Cypress patio from 9 am to 2:30 pm.
By NVC Student Jay Jimenez
