Participating in democracy
According to the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, there are only three requirements Pennsylvanians must meet to be able to register to vote: they person must be a US citizen for at least one month before the election is held, a resident of Pennsylvania in the area they are voting for for at least 30 days and at least 18-years-old on or before the day of the election which they are voting in.
After a person assures they meet all of these requirements, they can register to vote. Voter registration can be completed in person or, recently introduced, online.
“There’s a couple different ways,” civics teacher Marshall Foust said. “One of which is, whenever you go to get your license, you can do it at the DMV. I believe you can also find some forms online in.”
“If you Google how to register to vote in Pa, one of the first things that comes up is pavoterservices.pa.gov, and you can go through the voter services there,” civics teacher Jacob Wilt said. “It’s a pretty simple application; it takes like five minutes to fill out.”
In order to be able to vote in the election, a person must be registered on or before Oct. 21, 2024. The general election will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024.
In addition to the process of registering to vote, a person should also research the candidates that will appear on their ballot when they go to vote. This election year, voting will take place on every scale. While the national election is currently the election with the most coverage, state and local elections will also appear on the same ballot.
“Everything’s so nationally focused , but really it’s our state and local officials that often have the most impact on us,” Wilt said. “We don’t often know those people or how we can contact them, and some of their offices are right in downtown Altoona or right across town. Make sure that you’re making your voice heard to our people in Congress, to our representatives in Congress and to our people here in the state and the city.”
Before voting, it is advised that a person take time to research the candidates who they will be voting for and their policies. Most have an idea of who they will support based on the beliefs held by those around them or through paying attention to the news, but by seeking out more information, one can feel more confident that their vote is going to the candidate who truly represents their values and beliefs. It is important that information about both or all candidates is gathered from reliable sources to assist people in further forming their political opinions.
In order to find an unbiased news source for information, one can look at the bias of the source they are reading from. The bias of some news sources is also reported by the All Sides Media bias chart, a chart that lays out popular news sources and whether they tend to report with a left-leaning, right-leaning or no partisan bias.
In the United States, citizens who meet the simple requirements set forth are privileged to have the ability to vote to elect the candidates who they want to represent their values and beliefs, not only on the national scale, but also throughout the state and in their city. While not every eligible person acts on this ability, it is important to inform those who can vote of why voting is so important.
“It’s the fundamental part of our democracy,” Wilt said. “People have fought, people have bled, people have died for our right to vote. At the time of our nation’s founding, the right to vote was excluded from over 90 percent of the population, and now it has very general requirements… People have fought so hard for the right to vote, and some of them never got to see that happen. Civil rights leaders, abolitionists, suffragettes, people fighting for the Voting Rights Act during the Civil Rights Movement. We need to honor our past by helping to vote for our future.”
Those who are not yet eligible to vote can still participate in the election. Volunteering their time, attending political rallies, having conversations with those around them about the issues which concern them, contacting local politicians. These are just some of the ways that a person can participate in the election process, regardless of their age.
“Often people want to see a new law or change an existing one,” history teacher Connor Pielmeier said. “While we cannot directly do it, we can elect the people who have the power to do so. Many people have fought and died for these freedoms, and they should not be wasted.”
