According to Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE), young voters, specifically voters aged 18-29, make up 21 percent of the United States voting population. This includes many high school students who currently are eligible to vote due to meeting age criteria. However, time and time again studies show the turnout of youth voters is significantly low, especially in state and local elections.

In high school, for students who are legally considered an adult, it can be very easy to throw local elections into the back of one’s mind and save political energy for national issues. The problem with this becomes that national government has a very low effect on one’s everyday life, while local governments play a far larger and more imperative role in the daily activity of most people. Issues like funding for education, regulations regarding driving, etc. all greatly affect students and are all regulated by state and local governments. Simply put, Trump is not deciding the outcome of the next city council meeting.

There are many excuses as to why students don’t care about local and statehouse government. Many students of voting age are only temporary residents where they currently live. High school seniors, who mostly make up the age group allowed to vote while in high school, will be “leaving the nest” soon, many to new cities for postsecondary schooling, making local elections irrelevant to their future.

Others young voters are simply uneducated on the impact of statehouse politics and local government or wish to avoid the painful, tiring and confusing process of attempting to register to vote.

It is the agreement of The Mentor editorial board that youth voters need to make politics and elections — especially local and state elections — a bigger priority. The board also agreed that those who teach about our government system need to further political awareness in students and education on the process of how the voting system works.

Youth votes matter so much — who else represents the future that younger generations want to see and live in? It is incredibly hard to incite change at the national level, in fact, it will take years for one issue to even become a needle-prick in the stabwounds that are issues like medical care, foreign policy and global warming. In smaller settings like local elections, that is where change starts.  

While government classes are used for a base in political education, it is up to students to actually utilize that limited education. Here at home, Manhattan High crams a full year’s worth of government and political education into one semester — as required by standards outside of school influence — and hopes students grasp the complicated system that is American government. Within that semester, there is not enough time to discuss the actual process of voting.

Encouraging and educating students on the actual process of voting would result in a group of educated young people who speak up, who make rational political decisions, who dive into a better understanding of politics.

Educators, step up — encourage a generation of educated young minds, the next generation of American voters. Young voters, be encouraged to take a political stance. Be heard. Don’t limit the voices and minds that are the future.