Voting in America

           In a country which elects one person to be the voice of over 300 million people, voting is a pressing concern. Voting is both a great freedom and has a profound effect on a country and all of its inhabitants. However, there is a serious problem developing in the United States: fewer young people

are voting. An even larger issue is that people are voting without knowing what they’re voting for. CBSNEWS did a study at multiple universities and interviewed many students to question them on their voting decisions. What they found was that nearly one fourth of all college students only voted one way or another because of the influence of their friends or political commercials (CBSNEWS, “Uneducated Voters Have Disturbing Effect On Elections”). When asked why the opposing candidate should not be elected many of the students recited the overlying messages of political commercials. This issue is largely due to the fact that young people are not being educated on current political candidates. Currently the way many people get their political information are from commercials or banners and ads on webpages.  And most often times, the official who is elected is not the candidate with the best policies and the agendas who will contribute the most to the community, but rather the candidate who can afford to advertise and sell themselves better to the general public. This only contributes to the issue of voting. Candidates are making slandering ads to try to prove that their agendas are more important than the other candidates. When politics becomes simply a game of numbers in which the person with the most money takes power, the elected official is not going to have the best interest of the people in mind and try and change their community for the better. Without educating voters on the topics and standings the candidates hold, these voters rely primarily on whomever has the most appealing advertisements and most memorable slogans. When the voters are informed of their choices and see that their vote will make a difference in the community, they can then make the best choice and elect the best candidate for the position.

            The citizens of the United States have a great privilege, to be able to elect a single person to represent their best interests. However when people are uneducated about the candidates for presidency, or any position in government, they are not properly electing the best official to suit their

needs. In order to solve these issues people need to become better educated on the current political officials running and the stances they hold. Many people nowadays want their information quick, and researching all the political candidates is a very time consuming process. If school systems put in a policy in place to further educate the younger generations of current politics then the United States government will be equipped with the most qualified personnel, rather than those who have the better campaign ads. By electing the best official, America can flourish and the elected official can use their power to aid in helping the community.