Voting awareness raised through rally at SHS

With midterm elections just around the corner, president Donald Trump is visiting SHS this evening to campaign for republican senate candidate Mike Braun. Whether or not this will have an impact on the outcome of the election, many have seen a greater awareness of voting for this election in the Southport community.

Senior David Worland is one that will be putting his vote in for this election. He says that he has seen an increase of young teenagers and young adults being politically active since Trump was elected in 2016.

“With this upcoming election, they really have a chance to have a say in how a country should be ran, in how a state should be ran,” Worland said.  

Similarly, Indiana High School Press Association executive director Ryan Gunterman says it is really important for eligible voters to start young.

“All of the decisions that are being made are primarily going to affect (the younger generation) for the longest period of time,” Gunterman said.

He finds it especially important for people to be voting in this particular election as it is more directly going to affect people than the election of the president. The school board, for example, can have “more impact on you than Obama or President Trump ever could.” Still, the midterms for senate are only statewide, not nationwide.

“Midterms are always so much more important than the actual presidential election because the executive branch is significant, but it is not as significant as the legislative branch,” Gunterman said.

President of IHSPA and yearbook adviser Sam Hanley doesn’t know that any one election is more important than another as it all affects people in some way, but he does think that this particular election at least feels more important, especially with a rally being held at SHS.

For Hanley, this rally will not have an impact on who he decides to vote for. He’s not sure that it can really change the voter’s decision, but it may bring more people out to vote.

Gunterman sees that an event as big as the one at SHS, where they expect at least 8,000 people, could either motivate others to get out and vote against what the rally is campaigning towards or make others feel like their vote is overpowered and stay home instead.

However, Hanley also sees how this could potentially make for uninformed voters. He believes that many of times, people vote for a candidate just because they are of a certain political party, but claims this as an unhealthy way to vote. Instead, he encourages people to vote with consciousness and using their values. While he deems this attitude important for all, he really hopes there is a change in the attitude of younger voters and that they go out to vote.  

“If you don’t vote you can’t complain about the outcome of elections,” Hanley said.

To read more about reactions some of these voters and others have in response to the rally, click here.