Every vote counts

Local Matters



 

 

I am sitting here this Super Tuesday, with one main prayer. I pray

Atascosa County has a strong turnout at the polls. Voter turnout says a lot about your community. I want us to be proud of us. I want to either out shine or stand toe to toe with our neighboring counties when it comes to voter turnout too.

In a Pew Research Center survey in early 2018, threequarters of Americans (74%) said voting in elections is very important to what it means to be a good citizen. I could not agree more. We are a county filled with good citizens and an active and engaged government.

I was looking into voter demographics to see what generation turned out in the largest numbers. I was wrong thinking it was the Boomers and beyond. According to the Pew Research Center in the 2018 midterms, Gen Z (born 1995-2010), Millennials (born 1980-1994) and Gen X (born 1960-1979), outvoted older generations. These younger generations outvoted the Boomer (born 1940-1959), and prior generations. The three younger generations reported casting 62.2 million votes, compared with 60.1 million cast by Baby Boomers and older generations. It is not the first time the younger generation outvoted their elders. The same pattern occurred in the 2016 presidential election.

High turnout accounted for a significant portion of the increase. Millennial turnout nearly doubled from 2014-2018. Millennials and Gen Xers together cast 21.9 million more votes in 2018 than in 2014. Interesting thought, the younger generations have the power to elect our next president and representatives.

By the time you read this column the votes will be cast, and we will know who won the primary and who will be in a run-off. We have  eight months to prepare for the General Election, held Tuesday, November 3. We have a little less than seven months to encourage others to register to vote if they have not. The deadline for voter registration for the General Election is Monday, October 5, 2020.

NOEL WILKERSON HOLMES is the Publisher/Managing Editor of the Pleasanton Express. You may reach her at nwilkersonholmes@pleasantonexpress.com.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *