Welcome to a presidential election year! Cue the patriotic music, invigorating public debates and magical first-time voting experiences. Isn’t it an exciting time to be on a college campus?
For more people than you might think, the answer to that question is no.
A late July Times/Siena poll found that the primary emotion of voters going into this election was anxiety, and it is easy to understand why. The issues at stake seem so monumental and the stakes so high that it can quickly begin to feel though if this election doesn’t go just the right way, your future is over, the world will end and you will need to move to Canada.
While this may or may not be your reality, if you are finding yourself trapped in existential presidential anxiety, I have some good and bad news for you: Your one vote isn’t likely to change who becomes president, particularly if you are from Texas. For voters in non-swing states, our fun winner-takes-all electoral college system means that your vote in the presidential election doesn’t matter all that much regardless of whether you cast it with the majority or minority.
Perhaps that’s a relief and you can let go of some of that anxiety. Voters in Georgia, not you, are to blame if the world ends. Still, this realization can be equally terrifying and may leave you feeling powerless.
Yet powerless you are not. It is simple to lose sight of local issues and elections in a year dominated by national players. The reality, however, is that all around you are competitive races or pressing issues in which you do have the power to make a difference. Getting involved in them can help you regain control in an election year where not much is in your control, and in the process you just might be able to alleviate your anxiety somewhat. Here’s how:
Vote in down ballot races and local elections
One thing many people don’t realize is that elections happen more frequently than every four years. In fact, in any given county they can happen several times a year, and in those elections one vote can make a difference. I’ve worked as an elections clerk in several small elections, and it is not unusual for a constitutional or runoff election to see only 30 people voting on election day at my location. In elections such as this, one person researching the candidates and dragging their friends and family along to the polls may make a critical difference in the outcome of that election.
Vote with your feet
If you don’t have access to the ballot box or if the issue you are interested in is not up for election, there are still ways that you can vote. You can use your presence or absence from spaces to signal your views on an issue. Most obviously this may look like attending protests, demonstrations or sit-ins, but your absence from public space is also powerful. The “Ni Una Menos” strikes across Latin America saw women staying home from work and school to protest femicide by showing what a world without women would look like, and other causes have followed suit.
Speak up about local issues, the more local the better
You may not realistically be able to get President Biden to change a policy stance with which you disagree, but you can certainly arrange a meeting with President Beasley about issues on the Trinity campus. Maybe you are concerned about the use of plastic in Coates or the rising cost of tuition at Trinity. These are issues for which you may very possibly be able to effect a change – or at least have your voice heard. These changes aren’t insignificant; in fact, they may have more of an effect on your day-to-day life than do many national policy changes, and you will feel accomplished for having acted on them.
Don’t give up on national politics
Focusing on local politics doesn’t mean giving up on national ones. We often think of Politics as what happens in Congress and the White House, where change trickles down from above, but that isn’t always the case. There is a small “p” politics that happens in the places and spaces all around you, in the ways in which you live your life and the relationships you have with other people. By being intentional and thinking radically in these small “p” areas of politics, you can actually flip the script and make the change you want to see on the national Political level trickle up.
This is by no means an exhaustive list, and I encourage you to think of other ways you can get involved in the communities you belong to. Four is a nice round number, though, so I will leave you with the former four suggestions for now, and end with some thoughts about what all this means for a university newspaper.
My goal as editor-in-chief this year is simple: Stay local. Our job at the Trinitonian is to report on local issues, bring them to your attention and empower you with the information you need to initiate change, when necessary, or at the very least, to spark a dialogue about these issues.
This goal requires the assistance of you, the local community. If you see something happening at Trinity or in the San Antonio area that you think we should report on, let us know. If you want to share your opinion with the Trinity community by writing a letter to the editor or a guest column, reach out to us. This is your paper. Your voice matters and we want to hear it.
I look forward to hearing your voices.
