Abby: Beyond Apathy - Where Does Voting Fit In?

The label of young people and college students as apathetic is old. It’s just not true and people need to get over it. Sure, not all young people are actively engaged in some sort of civic/political/community activities, but to say that a majority of young people just DON’T CARE ABOUT ANYTHING is ridiculous. [A friend of mine always likes to ask: what is apathy anyways?]

Being at IMPACT this weekend would likely convince even the most cynical that young people and students in the US are passionate about solving public problems and making change. But what’s also significant about IMPACT is the diversity of community-building and change strategies that will be represented. There will be students who focus on direct service, policy advocacy, voting, leadership development, service-learning, community-based research, policy research - the list could go on.

This year’s primary campaign is exciting largely because of the huge youth turnout numbers. Don’t get me wrong, this is great – really great. Maybe now the public can construct a different picture of young people---a real one. A SOLE focus on youth voter turnout, however, is misleading. The ways that young people are working to address public problems is far broader than voting.

Is voting a litmus test for youth civic and political engagement?

Voting is one of the easier activities to track and measure. Other activities, like discussing public issues, is harder to measure. Is this why it gets so much attention? Having talked to a lot of people about voting, I know that one answer to this question would inevitably be that voting is a great indicator because it’s “the most important responsibility of a citizen”. It’s not that this isn’t true or isn’t a good reason, but we cannot overlook the important and significant work that is happening in other areas---work that is providing concrete experiences with public problem-solving, finding policy solutions and bringing communities together to deliberate. We cannot deny the long-term, deep, challenging, messy work that young people and students are involved with on a range of issues in communities all across the country and around the world.

Do we shortchange young people and students by creating the perception that voting is THE marker of participation and engagement?

Given what’s going on with the primaries, I’m going to be interested in how this conversation plays out this weekend at IMPACT…

-Abby K