This year is really important for everyone, not only the American people but also the new voting generation. The 2020 presidential election is approaching, but a lot of the eligible Miami High students have not registered to vote. 

   Senior Oscar Salguero said that he was meaning to register but has not done so yet. “I am not really aware of the candidates and political parties’ standpoints, and I do not feel comfortable making an uninformed decision, especially when it comes to the future of my country,” he said.

Voter turnout 

   The young generation is usually criticized for their lack of interest and involvement in the electoral process, but many are participating in greater numbers. Even though mass media shows a low representation of the youth at the polls, according to the United States Census Bureau, “Among 18- to 29- year- olds, voter turnout went from twenty percent in 2014 to thirty-six percent in 2018 which was not a presidential election year, yet the largest percentage point increase for any age group was a seventy-nine percent jump.” 

Does your vote really make a difference?

   An issue that we encounter a lot is that the youth that is eligible to vote feels like their vote

does not make a difference in the turn of events. However, not everyone at Miami High feels the same way. Senior Joseph Cardona said, “I do believe that my vote counts, so I registered to vote when I went to get my license. Personally, I am not really educated on what is going on in politics nowadays, but if schools could implement a way to teach us in a neutral way, I think it could help increase the voter turnout.” 

   According to senior Eduardo Villatoro, there should be more incentives for the students to register. He said, “Helping the students through the registration process would make it easier. An issue we encounter a lot with modern generations is that they won’t go out of their way to do such an easy thing, even to vote.” 

   Social studies teacher Ms. Delgado thinks it would be a good idea that, when it is an election year, government classes should focus more on teaching the students about who is helping them create their future, rather than who helped them in the past. Ms. Rivero, a 9th-grade physical science teacher, stated, “We should be educating the students about the candidates, parties, instead of focusing on older facts and prepare them for the day to day politics.”

Have you registered?

   One issue that is usually encountered when students were asked if they had registered, was

that they did not even know how to do it, but once you teach more kids how to do it, the turnout will be greater. Senior Jose De Los Santos said, “Once we know how to do something, we will feel compelled to do so.” and that it is critical for eligible teenagers yo get an education on what the system in this country is due to the fact that they are not only the future but the future educators of the generations to come.