Stories We Tell

College students share what they believe the impacts their ballot can have on the upcoming elections—especially as one candidate propose raising the voting age.

By: Richard Fuller

Greensboro N.C.- Young voters had massive impacts on the 2018, 2020, and 2022 elections. According to the Brookings Institute, young millennials and Generation Z will be the largest voter demographics in upcoming elections.

In response to this surge in young voter turnout, some political figureheads have proposed raising the legal voting age. Presidential nominee, Vivek Ramaswamy, wants to raise the legal voting age up to 25.

Students expressed that they wanted the legal voting age to stay the same. Azia Brown, a sophomore accounting student attending Howard University wants the voting age to remain the same, “We get taxed, we should be able to vote,” Azia said.

She also explained that she thinks older politicians are afraid of young voter’s voting power, “We saw in 2020 and 2022 that when [young] people get out and vote, we make change happen.”

The unusually high young voter turnout had a massive impact on the 2022 mid-term elections, causing Republicans to gain significantly fewer seats than projected. In 2020 and 2022 there was record voter turnout for voters aged 18-25 in many states.

Among young voters, a majority of them vote Democrat; 53% for young men and 71% for young women, according to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement.

Students from all regions of North Carolina are voting differently. Amelia Pollard, a sophomore computer science student attending Appalachian State University had a specific strategy for her vote, “I vote third party [because] it gets them more attention in the media” Amelia said.

She explained that she doesn’t intend for her candidate to win, just to get people talking about their ideas. She also said she doesn’t feel like her ideas are represented by the two major parties. “Everyone on the floor is only there to perpetuate the cycle of a dystopian society where the rich can buy out the lawmakers,” she said.

Jacob Martinez, a sophomore political science student at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro was critical of strategic voting. “You stop voting for the things you care about and start voting to make sure the other side doesn’t win,” he said. Jacob explained that he believed strategic voting was dividing people and making it impossible to compromise.

Some students don’t have a specific strategy in mind and just want to vote for what they believe in. Blake Dean, a junior pre-law student attending N.C. A&T is certain he is going to vote. “I just want my voice to be heard, I have to vote for that to happen,” he said. He also explained that raising the voting age felt wrong, and would leave many people unrepresented.

Deavion Person, a senior cybersecurity student at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro said he intends to vote, and wishes he could urge everyone to do the same. He described himself as ‘far-left compared to most Americans.’ He shared he doesn’t feel like there are any candidates representing him on the ballot or in office, “My policies will never reach the ballot box, a candidate I want will never be a representative,” he said.

All of the students said voting is the best way to get represented. “[Voting] is the only way to get any form of representation in the government without investing crazy amounts of money or crazy amounts of hours to political volunteering,” Deavion said.

Taylor Richardson, a sophomore social work major attending N.C. A&T said it was a civic duty to vote and that raising the voting age would be denying young people their voice, “I vote because I want my voice to be heard, it’s the only way politicians hear us.” Taylor said.