Turning electoral apathy to concern

With elections quickly approaching, Nassau County residents are getting ready to choose new officials. While many adults are concerned with the potential outcome of the elections, teenagers aren’t nearly as worried. In fact, many didn’t even know that the elections were taking place.
Some students noticed the red, white and blue signs cropping up in local yards, perhaps even in their own yards, but neglected to research the names they displayed. Most of the students that I asked had no idea who was running for any of the positions, and even if they did, they simply didn’t care. Some acknowledged that even though these elections probably affected them in some way, they didn’t know how.
While it is very easy to peg this as another example of how ignorant and apathetic millennials are, these findings aren’t at all surprising. Although many high school students are either close to being old enough or are already old enough to vote, they still consider voting in local elections an adult responsibility that has nothing to do with them. The political views and opinions of teenagers that do happen to be interested in government are often dismissed as being uninformed and juvenile.
In an attempt to better inform students on the upcoming elections and get them more actively involved in local government, a representative from the Nassau County Democratic Party recently visited several senior-level social studies classes at Lawrence High School.
The representative came in the hopes of recruiting volunteers to assist in campaigning for the Democratic district attorney candidate, Acting D.A. Madeline Singas. The representative outlined some of the potential benefits of helping with the campaign, such as leadership opportunities and an appealing addition to college transcripts.

Of course, the opportunity to add yet another activity to college applications was incredibly enticing to the seniors. Many students signed up to receive additional information about campaigning, but in the end, every student except for one declined the offer. Senior Nick Loch, who is interested in politics both inside and outside his government class, decided to accept the offer and visit with the county Democrats to potentially help with campaigning efforts. He attended a volunteer orientation a couple of weeks ago to learn he would be making phone calls to residents who had previously voted in local elections, encouraging them to consider the Democratic candidate.
Nick was the only Lawrence student to participate in the campaign, but the brief visit from the representative was still informative for all the students involved. It made them aware that there are numerous elections other than the presidential election that also require our attention. It also alerted us to the fact that very soon, we would be the adults having to develop our own political views and vote in local elections.
Although many of my peers “don’t really care” about local politics, efforts are being made to make teenagers care just a little bit more.