It is hard to believe that in less than a month the citizens of the United States will once again have the great opportunity to elect a president. I say this is a great opportunity because not all people have the opportunity to elect their leader.
This year’s election is going to be a different one for many of us and an interesting one for many of our students to be initiated into the role of voting for president. Over half of our students were not eligible to vote in the last presidential election.
Most of UMPI’s students fall into the 18 to 25 year age group. This age group usually votes at a very low percentage. This year, your vote will be very important. This election comes at a time when most people are unsatisfied with the two main candidates running for office. Polls show that one third of the people supporting Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton do so because they do not like the other candidate, not because they like the candidate they are polling for.
I believe it is very important to be an informed voter. Don’t just listen to your friends or family, do some research on your own. Here are a couple of sites I would like to suggest to you to find information on the candidates for the 2016 elections. Perhaps the best site to gain information is the League of Women Voters. Their website is http://www.vote411.org/. When you get to this site, they will ask you for your address and then provide ballot information for your area. This works for outside of Maine as well.
To discover specific Maine State election material including the referendum questions go to http://maine.gov/sos/cec/elec/upcoming/. This year there are six referendum questions. These questions include referendums on: Decriminalizing marijuana; Tax increases on people making $200,000 a year to help fund K-12 schools; Background checks for firearms; An increase in the state’s minimum wage; Rank choice voting; and a Transportation bond. If you are not aware of what these topics are, please make sure you read up on them prior to voting.
The first election I voted in was in 1980. At that time, I had the choice of voting for Ronald Reagan (R), Jimmy Carter (D), John B. Anderson (I), Ed Clark (Libertarian), David McReynolds (Socialist), Barry Commoner (Citizens Party), Gus Hall (Communist Party) and Percey Greaves (American Party).
Jimmy Carter was the incumbent president. The economy was struggling and the inflation rate was running as high as 14.8% (March 1980). In comparison, the inflation rate in August of 2016 was at 1.1%. In basic terms, what cost you $100 on January 1, 1980, cost you $115 on January 1, 1981. Like many people that year, I voted with my pocketbook and voted for Ronald Reagan. When the election was over, Reagan won by over 8.5 million votes or 9.7 percent of the vote. He captured 489 Electoral College votes to Jimmy Carter’s 49 Electoral College votes.
This year will mark my 10th presidential election. I am proud to say I have never missed an election or ballot vote since 1980. I believe that voting is one of the most important things we can do as members of a democracy and a country that wishes to live up to the ideal of being free. I ask that all of you consider registering to vote and once registered, vote. I have heard people say that my one vote doesn’t matter, but when you add up everyone’s one vote, it turns into millions of votes, and that matters.
My advice is simple:
Study the people and issues present in this election.
Discuss your thoughts with others.
Discuss your thoughts with others who do not think the way you do–this may be difficult to do, but do it, this is how we learn about other points of view.
Consider what is right for you.
Consider what is right for the larger community–this may not be the same as what is right for you.
Pull together all you gave learned about the candidates and issues.
Vote on Nov. 8.
