This year, a record number of Mason became registered voters in January with the help of the Falls Church League of Women Voters who volunteer at George Mason annually for this cause.
“It’s gratifying to the League to see the students taking such an interest in the elections and in registering to vote. We hope that the interest will be sustained and students will continue to be involved in the political process at all levels,” said Ellen Salsbury, president of the League of Women Voters chapter in Falls Church.
During an election season, higher numbers of people registering are expected, but what we may be seeing is a little extra enthusiasm coming from our peers here at our high school.
“It’s our first time voting, so everyone wants to have their say because they haven’t had a say in eighteen years. This election is also important because there are so many candidates and the field is so diverse in opinions.” said junior Nico Ferrara.
Ferrara voted in the Virginia primary and also intends on voting in the Fall.
“I think more students have registered to vote for this election because it’s been more publicized and readily available to young people because of social media,” said junior Manaal Khwaja, who intends on voting in the 2016 general election.
She’s right. Whether you’re casually scrolling through your timeline on Twitter, reblogging posts on Tumblr, or even shuffling through geofilters on Snapchat, the presidential election is inescapable. Just last week the Conservative Solutions Pac (who endorse Marco Rubio) created their own geofilter on Snapchat that attacked Donald Trump by calling him a “con artist” and saying, “Friends don’t let friends vote for Trump.”
“A lot of candidates are trying to appeal more towards the younger vote because turnout has been increasing more with younger voters in recent years,” said senior Vicky Addo-Ashong. “A lot of their policies and campaign promises relate to younger generations.”
One of these policies is college tuition. On the Democrat’s side especially, candidates are discussing the affordability of post secondary school education for students nowadays. One unique promise standing out to students is Bernie Sanders’ suggestion to make state universities tuition-free.
“It’s especially critical at our age because we’re going to college soon… and we’re choosing what’s going to happen to us in the next four or eight years,” said senior and registered voter Diana Kim.
Many students participated in the Virginia primary on March 1st. The school encouraged first time voters to share pictures of social media with the lengthy hashtag, #FallsChurchFirstTimeVoter.
“It was an interesting experience. It was my first vote along with my brother, so it was a family event,” said Matthew Puentes, senior. “People are understanding that it’s their civic duty to vote and it’s something that they need to be doing. No one [here] wants Donald Trump in office, that’s a really big deal.”
“I appreciated being able to participate in government and help change the future. I’m a little disappointed with the results, but there’s still so much fun politics to come, said senior Laila Zoghi. “I think our grade has been very big on politics and they understand it and they discuss it all the time. I think most people that could vote did and those who didn’t still encouraged others to vote and encouraged people to get out there and participate.”
Those who did not make the age requirements certainly felt it. Sydney Marple, a junior, expressed that the right to vote is more crucial to young people, especially teenagers, than anyone else.
“I feel like we should be the ones who vote and not old people who are just going to die and have it not affect them. They’re leaving it to us and it’s going to affect us so we should be the ones voting on it. It’s a defining election for our generation,” said Marple.
Whether the election frenzy comes from excitement, anxiousness, or disappointment, there’s no doubt that students will be discussing and following the 2016 race to the White House all the way to the end.
