BY-NC-SA I just celebrated my eighteenth birthday last week. I'm looking forward to more than just being able to go clubbing, buy cigarettes, and try my luck at lotto tickets. I can't wait to vote. And although that this is something I have been anticipating since middle school, I'm starting to get some cold feet.
Not only am I confused about what party to register with or how to vote on key issues, but I'm also uncertain about how to even go about registering. So to try to clear things up and make the process easier, I've put together a list of top five questions to think about when you're voting for the first time.
1. Whose side am I on?
I'm not sure which party to register with. Should I go ideological or practical? I am a fierce environmentalist but even I am not sure if I want to register as Green Party. It seems a lot more realistic to register as a Democrat because it is part of the two party system and is usually for environmental legislation, as opposed to Republicans. I’ll probably end up going for the more pragmatic solution to this problem, but I find it sad that third parties will probably never have a chance in this country.
2. Is this my Grandmother's Ballot?
Studies show, including The American Political Science Review’s article “The Influence of Parents on the Political Attitudes of Adolescents” that parents’ political views have a severe impact on children, and are likely to carry over into the child’s own views.
When I discuss any kind of politics with my friends, I think twice about if the opinions they voice or their own or if they are just repeating what their parents said at the dinner table. I know few young Democrats with Republican parents, and vise versa. I hope that everything I think isn’t just a direct copy of what my parents told me to think. I’ll have to disassociate from their views and think about my own if I don't want to be a regurgitating copy-cat.
read the rest of list after the jump
3. What issues are important to you?
Voting is only one way to participate in politics. By thinking about what issues that you vote on are important to you, you can think about what issues you might want to take action on. I know that when I vote, I plan to vote for the measures that do not only benefit be, but benefit the most people in my community. I'm not just going to vote on what gives me the most tax breaks or only care about things that directly affect me.
4. Who can you trust?
With all of the pamphlets, billboards, commercials, websites, and people vying for our attention as voters, it’s a little hard to sort out the credible from the phony in the political world. Arguments on both sides of controversial issues such as healthcare or abortion are often convincing yet opposite. It’s important to pay attention to where the information that you are basing your vote on comes from. When a convincing commercial says it's paid for by Americans for Prosperity, maybe you have more reading-up to do on the issue.
5. Absentee or no absentee?
My parents vote with absentee ballots because they think it gives them more time and takes the pressure off. Absentee ballots you can fill out at home and send into the polls at your leisure, as long as you make the deadline. I plan on doing this in the future so I can make my decisions carefully, but I know that the first time I vote, I plan on going to the polls, just for the excitement. There's nothing like old ladies at school gyms and churches greeting you on a nice Tuesday afternoon!
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