In 1971, the ratification of the 26th Amendment to the United States Constitution lowered the United States’ voting age to eighteen years old. Today, this amendment allows high school seniors to vote if they reach adulthood before election day.
At the high school, some seniors felt compelled to vote simply because they could.
“I wanted to exercise my right as an American,” said one respondee to a Bradford survey.
“[Voting] is a rite of passage for turning eighteen,” said Connor McClennen ’25, a student who cast his ballot in November. “It’s important for my voice to be heard.”
History teacher Dr. Stephanie Cacace has a similar perspective on the importance of voting for young people.
“Your right to vote is a right you have as an American citizen,” said Cacace, who teaches the high school’s American Electoral Politics course. “It’s an opportunity for you to share your political opinions and it’s an opportunity for you to try to build a democratic government that shares your political ideals and values. Therefore it’s extremely important to vote.”
One possible deterrent from voting in Massachusetts is its history as a so-called “blue state” — since 1988, the state has voted for the democratic candidate in each presidential election.
“People often feel that their voice doesn’t matter in a state like Massachusetts,” wrote another survey respondee.
Nonetheless, students are still motivated to vote by issues that they are passionate about. When three student voters were asked to name the most important issues to them in this election year, each one mentioned abortion.
“I think women’s rights are pretty high up there [for people our age],” McClennen said.
Certainly, this issue is at the forefront of many American voters’ minds, as 51 percent of voters who participated in a Pew Research Center study ranked abortion as “very important” to them.
However, while the three surveyed students did not refer to the economy when providing their most important issues, the Pew study found that 81 percent of voters nationwide ranked it as “very important.” This could be due to Wellesley’s relative financial security compared to the rest of the United States, as it is one of the wealthiest towns in the country.
In 2016, only 43 percent of eligible eighteen to 24 year olds voted in Massachusetts. Though this number increased to 55 percent in 2020, it is still less than than the state’s 67 percent voter turnout throughout all age groups.
“[Not voting] is understandable if you’re super out of tune, but you can always go and leave a bunch of [the ballot] blank. I think you should show up and get your sticker,” said McClennen.
Cacace’s perspective differs.
“If you don’t believe that any of the candidates share your ideas and values, then abstaining from voting can also be a form of political expression,” she said. “By not participating, you’re still impacting the system.”
For those who are unsure how to learn more about political candidates and their positions, Cacace suggests looking at candidate websites and reading multiple news sources.
“We have so much access to media, and taking an opportunity to read a variety of sources to see…the policies and programs that candidates are proposing, and read[ing] across the ideological spectrum is a useful way to gain information about the candidates,” she said.