Matthew Will
Editor-in-Chief
To most college students, voting is a second thought. The last thing on a college student’s mind at the beginning of November is the impact a local election could have on their community.
I imagine the reason college students are unaware of the potential impacts a local election has is because the students can be hours away from their hometown.
For example, when I was a freshman in college, I attended Concordia University in Seward, Nebraska (near Lincoln). The year was 2016, and we were months away from voting in a brand-new president. At the time, I was 260 miles from my home in Wichita, unaware of what my voice in the election could mean.
Because of my location, I sent in a mail-in ballot, voting for the president (of course), U.S. Senate for Kansas, U.S. House of Representatives for Kansas, Kansas Senate, Kansas House of Representatives, district judges as well as a few other local positions. While the focus of the country was to ‘Vote for the President,’ the impact these state and local elections had was huge.
In Kansas, only 1,225,667 of the 1,817,920 registered voters turned out to vote in 2016, a 67.4% turnout.
Fast forward to 2018 where Kansas found itself holding a gubernatorial election. Typically, in midterm elections (elections taking place during an executive’s current term, i.e. governor election during a presidential term), turnout numbers fall.
This was no different in 2018 when Kansas voted for a new governor. Of the 1,841,776 registered voters, only 1,039,085 (56.4%) let their voices be heard at the polls. Positively, this was almost 1,000,000 more votes cast than the last time Kansas selected a governor when Sam Brownback was elected in 2014.
It was quite clear that democrat Laura Kelly was appealing to the younger audiences. School and healthcare were very important to her from the start and the young audience hooked on. Kelly went on to win the 2018 gubernatorial race, defeating Kris Kobach by just over 53,000 votes.
More than anything, the importance of local elections was preached by the democrat.
“Today, the people of Kansas spoke, and they spoke so loudly,” Kelly said in her victory speech.
As per usual victory speeches, the winner thanks people for support, but Kelly was happy to see people turning out for the election in general.
On Tuesday, Nov. 5, our great nation celebrates one of our greatest rights as United States citizens, the right to vote. Are you registered to vote? You can do that right now. Google ‘Register to Vote (your state here)’ and find your state’s website for registration. Do you know what you are voting for? If not, you can usually find a ballot for your county to prepare yourself to vote.
Your voice matters: No cliché here. The ability to vote and let your voice heard is wonderful, so be proud of your American citizenship and exercise your right to vote. Research the candidates, decide what you want to vote for and finally – VOTE!
I’ll see you at the polls.
NOTE: All Kansas election statistics taken from the Kansas Secretary of State website.
