MELISSA NELSON
DOTHAN, AL
High school student
Born: 1981
Essay themes: Barriers to registration, Internet voting

TANISHA CROSS
MONTGOMERY, AL
College student
Born: 1978

Essay themes: Changing voting procedures, making political issues relevant to young adults, changing the way candidates campaign, and creating political positions for young adults

Why Become Involved? Implementing a Better Political System

Everyone says that there is a decrease in the number of the young adult population involving themselves in the political system. Makes one wonder if those complaining are intensely scrutinizing every aspect of politics. With so much corruption and lack of loyalty and work ethics in this system, why should a young adult become involved?

There are numerous methods that should be used to increase the participation of young people. By changing voting procedures, making political issues relevant to young adults, changing the way candidates campaign, and creating political positions for young adults, there would be better political participation by young adults.

It seems that there has never been a young adult friendly voting system. Older adults are always complaining about young adults not voting but have yet to implement a system in which voting would not be such a dilemma for many young adults. The election of 1996 was an important one in that the availability of scholarship and grant opportunities for college students was an issue. An issue that directly affects young adults, as that did, encourages those young adults able to vote, to vote. Understanding that the issues of the politicians must be of importance to young adults, some of the campaign issues can then be directed towards the young adult population. When there is talk of such reforms as health care for the elderly or the existence of different avenues for those heading toward retirement, young adults show little interest. If the older population would understand that most young adults plan for a couple years into the future not many decades away. Placing emphasis on issues that will eventually, if not immediately, affect young adults.

Voting procedures need to be revised in that they are very unfavorable for those college students who are enrolled in sixteen to nineteen course credits a semester. Implementing such procedures such as voting in the college classes, at the cafeteria, and in the dorms, would increase the likelihood of an increase in the voting numbers among college campuses. Another improvement should be in the number of polling centers for certain areas of cities. When a potential voter has to wait in long lines for so long, she tends to despise the act of voting and may be discouraged from voting again. Understanding that the United States is a country that is static, politicians and law makers should adhere to this observation.

By focusing on issues relevant to young adults in the campaigns and implementing more young adult friendly voting procedures, there would be an increase in the amount of voting performed by young adults. Besides a need for the implementation of better voting procedures to increase the involvement of young adults in politics, there is also the need for better campaigning through advertising by the different candidates running for a particular office such as President of the United States, namely the political world versus William Jefferson Clinton. When opponents continue to defame another candidate, it takes away from not only the defamed candidate but also the one committing the act of character defamation. It seems more emphasis is always placed on the negative rather than on the positive aspects of the different candidates. Why would a young adult want to involve herself in a system that stretches the notion of democracy?

While changes need to be made in the voting procedures, the political issues of campaigns, and the defamation of the character of a candidate through advertising, the most important implementation to increase political participation of young adults would be the implementation of political positions for which young adults can be appointed. Allowing direct participation as politicians themselves can result in a better respect for the political system of the United States of America. Indeed, there is a need for increased political participation by young adults but with the present system of democracy in the United States of America, what young adult can become blind to the many discrepancies in it?

MELISSA NELSON
DOTHAN, AL
High school student
Born: 1981

Essay themes: Barriers to registration, Internet voting Why don't we vote?

Why don't we vote? A lot of people have asked themselves that question over and over and it is one question that they sometimes cannot answer. But then there are some people who just don't care. I am 18 years old but I haven't registered to vote - the main reason being that I haven't been eighteen for very long, and the other reason is that there is not enough information telling me where and when I should go to register. For a long time I looked forward to getting to vote, that it was an advantage of being eighteen, and I was happy that my opinion of who to elect would be counted. When I turned eighteen, I never saw any publicity for registering, all I heard about was the upcoming election. I still plan to register as soon as I know for sure where and when to go because I want my vote to count.

I am a co-op student and I don't get off of work until 5:00, most businesses close at that time and if registration is in the court house they would be closed also. I would not get a chance to even register. If there was a way to have registration somewhere other than an office that closed before 5:00 there would probably be more people to register and maybe those would turn in to active voters even if Internet voting does not happen, and we have to go stand in lines to vote. Most teenagers think that it is a waste of time and don't want to bother with voting. They think that their vote will not count because they are young, or because they didn't come from wealthy families. Also there are more teenagers that do not vote because the lack of knowledge on where to go. I know a lot of teenagers who have not registered yet because they are like me; they don't know where to go. If there was more information on where and when to go register, there would be a better turn-out of voters on election day. If registration could be on Election Day at the voter site it would make registering easier and there would be a higher number of voters.

Also, many adults do not want to go vote because of their jobs. Some places of employment do not allow time off to go vote and that is something most people don't want to waste their lunch hour on. It would be easier to those people if the day of the election was a holiday. Then there is the down side if Election Day was made into a holiday. A lot of people would sleep-in and not get out of the house until after lunch. Then after they finish their shopping and cleaning up their houses they would want to sit down and relax. They would not even think about why it was a holiday; intended for voting.

If there were a way to vote on the Internet, it would be a lot easier, quicker, and more reliable for the numerous tallies to be recorded and counted. It would not only help the tallying committee, but also help the hundreds of people who do not or can not make it out to the poll because of the lack of time. There are hundreds and thousands of people in the world who can vote but not all of them do because of different reasons. Of these people who decide not to go vote, their children follow their example and do not vote. Therefore, the emphasis of voting should be on the adults, not the younger generation. The adults would set an example for their children, and when those children became adults they would set an example for their children and so on. I don't believe that if the voting age was lowered it would make much difference since most of the parents of those children who would be allowed to vote, if the age was lowered, do not vote and the children would be influenced by their parents not to vote.

Also, if the voting age was lowered they would not be aware enough to make a political decision that would determine the course of their future because most young teens do not like listening to political campaigns or speeches. If there happened to be a run-off election it could also be done quickly if the same ideas applied to the regular election were applied to the run-off. If this were true, the run-off would have instant results and the election would be over. People would not have to wait and watch every minute update on the election to see who had won. Most people like to hear results about anything very quickly, and shouldn't a big thing like elections be one of them?