Why I Don’t Vote

Growing up I never found an interest in who the president was or whether I was a Republican or Democrat. Throughout high school, I didn’t think about voting due to not be age eligible.

But now, being in my senior year of college, all I hear about is “Have you registered to vote?” “Who are you voting for?” “Did you vote for Trump?” or “Your vote could change if this person gets elected or not?” But in my head, all I can think about is what I’m going to eat next. Or the assignment I’ve yet to start or practice later.

Being a college student, voting is low on the priority list with school, sports, family, maintaining a social life, and figuring out what I am going to do with my life. With everything going on in my life, it’s hard to pay attention to the news. Because of that, I know very little about politics.

Therefore I feel as if I know nothing about voting or who I would vote for. What if I vote for the wrong person or what if I vote and that person turns out to be terrible? I choose to stay out of it and let those who have a sense of what’s going on in the political universe do what they need to do.

I presume I will vote later on in life when I am a serious adult. Right now, though, it seems as if politics, voting, and campaigns are all in a different world that I have no desire to access. Why would I go and dive into another stressful topic that I have no information about when I already have so many at hand? Keeping up with the news makes me feel as if the world is going to end considering most of it includes disheartening topics.

When voting comes up in a conversation, I zone out. I have nothing to say in light of having no information on it. And with the information out in the world due to the internet, I’m unsure of what to believe. A lot of political information I see comes from Twitter, which includes people retweeting President Trump’s tweets, and that’s not the most reliable information.

My teachers or friends will tell me stories of what this senator is doing or if this law gets passed this is how it will affect you, and yet my mind seems unmoved. I feel bad that I don’t have an emotional connection to politics that many others seem to have, and yet it still has yet to affect me.

“Brooke your vote matters,” is what my friends will say as I sit there and nod. “Yeah, I’ll sign up someday,” I respond, but that day has yet to come. I will vote, one day.