Millenial Voting Habits in the 2016 Election

By: Mike Caliri

Youth voting has always been an important part of the election process and with the 2016 election it seems as though youth interest has never been quite as high as compared to previous elections.

Kendall Wright, a college senior, who is from San Francisco won’t be going home just to vote this year. “I am not voting this year partly because I don’t agree with either candidate but also because I never reached out to get an absentee ballot. Maybe I would have if I liked one candidate in particular but it’s just not that pressing to me with the two options we have,” she said.

“I am not even sure how to register for an absentee ballot,” said Henry Holmes a senior at Bryant University. Holmes, who currently lives in Smithfield, Rhode Island would have to vote in his hometown of Scituate, Massachusetts if he didn’t have an absentee ballot. Many college students might not know about absentee ballots or how to apply for them which makes things even harder for them and reduces the number of total millennial voters especially with college age students not wanting to make the commute back home just to cast their vote. Some students are more conscious of the process and believe they need to do their part in the election.

“I registered for my absentee ballot online and plan to vote that way so I don’t have to drive all the way home just to vote,” said Billy Russell, a senior at UMass Lowell. Russell is also from Scituate, Massachusetts so he made the choice to get an absentee ballot rather than make the drive.

People who commute to school and live in their hometown have much more accessibility to the polls but that doesn’t mean they will vote necessarily. “I, personally am not voting just because I don’t support either of the candidates so I don’t really care too much and I also believe that my vote isn’t the crucial in deciding who the president is anyway,” said Robert Stanton, a junior at BSU currently living in Scituate, Massachusetts.

Other commuter students felt differently. “I am going to vote because it’s close to my house and my family is going anyway so I wanted to see what the process was like. Plus there are some questions I want to cast my vote on,” said David Trickler, a sophomore at Massasoit Community College living in Marshfield, Massachusetts.

According to civivcyouth.org, 45 percent of people ages 18-29 voted in the 2012 election with 71 percent of those people being college educated. That number of total voters is down from 51 percent in 2008. Youth voter’s interest was sparked in the primaries by Democratic candidate, Bernie Sanders in the primaries. This graph below, curtesy of The Washington Post shows just how much millennial support Sanders had. It turned out to be more than Clinton and Trump combined. Youth voters clearly were feeling the Bern, but what does this say about youth voter turnout this November? Only time will tell.

Scituate Town Clerk, Kathleen A. Kurran, said she has noticed an increase in youth voters. “Younger voters have come forward with a good amount of questions this year I noticed. More than usual I would say. Mostly questions about Hillary and Trump, how they should choose, absentee ballots and so on.” She also gives advice to the younger voters who come to talk to her. “I try to tell the kids to do as much research online as they can, but to also be weary of the sites they choose. Look at government sites if you can and also watch the debates and try to avoid some of the mainstream media” she said. Kurran said younger voter turnout in previous elections hasn’t always been plentiful. “Young voters always seem to show up in small doses around here. I would say that the percentage of younger voters here is easily less than 10% and most of them seem to come in with parents or relatives,” she said. “I believe that this is mostly due to the fact that this is a small town with an older population so a majority of our younger people are either too young or are away at college so that’s why we have a good amount of absentee ballot voters which picks up some of the numbers so that’s where I think the discrepancy lies, not necessarily in a lack of interest.”

Only the conclusion of the 2016 election will tell us the impact millennial voters had on this election and really anything can happen. Find out what happens on Tuesday, November 8^th when the election is held.