Just a few weeks ago, we watched President Obama march along the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama; his feet walking the very same path taken by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and fellow civil rights activists fifty years ago to the day. As tear gas seared their eyes and clubs broke their bones in 1965, their spirits persevered and they marched on for their right to vote. Fast-forward to the special election set for April 7, 2015 in San Jose that will fill the vacated seat for representation of District 4. What we’re seeing among young voters, the “future” of our country, is shameful in light of the sacrifices made for the right to vote.
Last week absentee ballots were distributed among registered voters in District 4, which was left vacant when Kansen Chu was elected to the State Assembly. It’s expected that 90% of voters will cast their vote by mail.
That a trifling 2% of those votes come from the 18-25 year age group highlights a definite and pervasive problem with elections and young voters. More alarmingly, it may suggest that the spirit of public engagement and political activism that inspired Dr. King’s march from Selma to Montgomery has withered in the face of jaded indifference.
It is a vicious cycle –politicians don’t care about youth issues because young people don’t vote; young people don’t vote because politicians don’t care about youth issues. But even if votes don’t result in a desired candidate, they do express public opinion. Politicians must find ways to connect with generation Y, the largest and most racially diverse generation in the country’s history, and young voters must educate themselves on the significance of exercising their rights. By modifying their political policies with ideals pertinent to a progressive 21st century constituency, politicians will undoubtedly boost voter participation among the millennials. And maybe then the sacrifices, and the memorials to those efforts, will not have been in vain.
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