Educated voting makes a difference

Did you know that the ballot is used to vote for the president also includes voting on propositions? Have you heard of Prop. 34, whose goal is to end the death penalty, or Prop. 30 whose goal is to increase taxes?

In the United States, all citizens 18 and older have an opportunity to vote. It is a privilege to live in a republic that prides itself in its democratic government.

I was amazed when learning in my history classes that not all countries get to vote on issues as we Americans do. It made me wonder, by allowing anyone who is a citizen to vote, are we hurting our government or helping it?

When my sister came home from school and talked about her government class, she brought up a point that I had never even thought about: many people are voting, yet they aren’t making educated votes because they lack the facts they truly need to make an educated vote.

Elections are coming up soon, and this is something all citizens should worry about. Many people vote for one candidate because they only know about that one candidate. Many voters also make their decisions based on things they’ve heard about the candidate, yet don’t even bother to see if what they have heard is true or not.

If we have people voting without first researching the candidates, the person they’re voting for might not be the right person for the job. The people who haven’t learned enough about the candidate are voting for shaping the future of our country.

Unfortunately, biases are ultimately making the final decisions for votes throughout the country. Do we really want people to vote based on color of skin or where that candidate is from? Do we want these citizens to shape our country’s future based on their biases?

Of course there are voters who educate themselves on their candidate’s stands on certain issues before voting, but the fact of the matter is that there aren’t that many. As a student, this worries me. Irresponsible voters have my future in their hands. Since I can’t vote yet, they represent me.

I don’t want people who are unfairly biased shaping my future. Adults may complain about the results of the election, but they at least had an opportunity to vote. We students are forced to accept whoever is elected by both the responsible and irresponsible voters.

It isn’t easy to come up with a way to stop the irresponsible voters from making their decisions based on their biases. In this country, all citizens have a right to vote and it would definitely not be okay to take that away from any citizen. Yet is it fair to make the ones who can’t vote go along with the candidate that was elected by everyone else?

That brings up an even bigger question: should students be allowed to vote? Students are a significant portion of the country and, in my opinion, should also have a say. Of course, the students must also make educated votes and not just add to the group of irresponsible voters the country already has.

Maybe what we need is to have a voter give a legitimate reason for why they are voting for the candidate they have chosen. That way we could see who has really thought about what is best for the country and themselves and not simply voting because of biases they have.

Any improvements that can possibly be made to prevent the uneducated votes likely will not happen for a long time. As for now, we must trust our fellow citizens with our futures and hope that they make educated decisions that benefit everybody in the long run, not just the ones who are able to vote.