OPINION: Voting in USG elections is essential to future civic engagement
The voting period for the 2019 Undergraduate Student Government elections begins Tuesday. If this year is anything like last year, the number of students who cast their ballots will drop, continuing a long trend of dismal voter turnout. Over the last four years, more than 75 percent of the student body did not participate in USG elections, according to data from USG Senate.
Low student participation cannot continue to be the norm, especially when the agendas of USG candidates impact the well-being of all students. The University desperately needs positive, tangible change, and achieving this requires more students to vote.
It may be easy for students to use the classic excuse of being “too busy to vote,” especially at USC. The Schedule of Classes reports that “a normal academic load is 16 units per semester for undergraduate students,” and each unit generally requires at least two to three hours of study outside of class. In addition, most students invest countless hours into extracurriculars, internships and jobs, leaving little room for non-career pursuits, much less voting.
Voting, however, does not require much of a time investment. USG allows students to submit online ballots, eliminating the burden of travel time and other logistics of finding a polling place. While the research necessary for informed voting requires a heftier investment than a few clicks, the Daily Trojan publishes profiles for all senatorial and presidential candidates, and USG lists their platform points on their elections website, allowing for easier platform comparison.
Another common obstacle to voting is a general sense of USG’s powerlessness, which reflects a lack of trust in the efficacy of USG. Many students view USG as a weak and ineffective body of governance. It hardly helps that unless they are heavily involved in campus culture, most students do not see USG in action. As a result, they believe that the University’s functions are out of their hands and see voting as a burden.
While it is USG’s responsibility to raise awareness of the election and its implications on student life, students are responsible for educating themselves on USG policies and initiatives. In this year alone, USG was effective in passing several initiatives: It actively worked with University administrators to institutionalize a Diversity Fund for students, updated emergency information on USCards, created new mindfulness curriculum and secured free digital New York Times subscriptions for all students. USG also issued statements condemning hate speech on campus and student exclusion from the Presidential Search Committee. These actions have been beneficial in raising awareness among students, faculty and administrators alike.
Ultimately, the perception of voting as a meaningless chore has implications well beyond the University. Voting in USG elections is fundamental because it prepares young people to engage with and participate in politics at all levels.
Being civically engaged starts now. It is important that students are involved in decisions that affect them. If students don’t vote at the university level, they are less likely to vote in U.S. elections that already see low turnout among young adults.
In contrast, responding with indifference and cynicism traps USC students into a sense of learned helplessness, training them to be apathetic toward politics. Apathy is dangerous, especially at a University that seeks to train the next generation of leaders. However flawed a political process is, rejecting it only allows it to grow more dysfunctional.
The voting period ends on Thursday. Students can vote in person at booths located across campus, including next to Tommy Trojan and at USC Village. They can also vote online through USG’s elections page. Regardless of when or how you do it, please vote.