Students discuss the importance of voting and getting your voice out.

Transcript 

0:06: Welcome back to Chronversations. 

0:08: I’m your host, Cameron Johnson. 

0:10: Voting season is just around the corner, and Columbia Votes is here to help students with how to vote and how to know if they’re registered. 

0:17: Next Tuesday, they’ll be hosting an info session on the 1st floor of the Student Center. 

0:21: So for this episode, I’ll be asking students about their thoughts on voting and seeing how knowledgeable they are on the topic. 

0:27: Miriam Verne, she/her and sound design. 

0:32: I’m Ju’el Moses, pronouns he/him, major film and television BA. 

0:36: My name is Remington Haynes. 

0:38: I go by he/him pronouns and I’m an audio arts major. 

0:41: Can you just tell me your personal opinion? 

0:43: What is the importance of voting? 

0:45: I grew up with a very strict family that was always about voting, and I don’t know how anyone could not vote because I mean, even if people think primaries don’t matter, every vote counts and everything matters. 

0:59: I feel that voting is very significant. 

1:02: It’s an important part in today’s age, especially for our youth. 

1:06: It’s good for everyone to put in their votes, to voice their opinions, to voice their concerns, voice the things that they want to see change in, and I feel like it makes a big difference at the end of the day when those things get answered. 

1:19: Yeah, I think voting is really important, especially voting locally, getting involved in your community, you know, everyone has a say in their community, and I think it’s a right that not enough people exercise, but it’s a fundamental and super important right just to, you know, shaping your community to see it to for it to be how you want it to be. 

1:43: So what questions have you had in the past or even have right now about voting and what new insight have you gained or hope to gain? 

1:50: I’m new to Illinois, so it’s really hard when you move to know about the history of a state and just being curious about different candidates and their positions and what usually people my age vote for, but not following the crowd is always good too but, 

2:10: Just knowing that. 

2:11: In the past, I honestly used to believe that voting was kind of pointless. 

2:14: I used to feel like things were already decided before we had our chance to even give an opinion, but that’s changed for me. 

2:21: I’ve realized the importance of everyone going out in their states and just where they are to voice their opinion and say what they have to say. 

2:29: Even if you may feel that things are getting accounted for, it’s still good to be done. 

2:34: Where I live, there’s only one, where I’m from, rather, there’s only one place to vote. 

2:38: Like everyone goes to the same place to vote. 

2:40: So when I moved out here, it was kind of confusing, like where do I even go to vote. 

2:46: Because I know if you live in this neighborhood or this neighborhood, you go to a different place. 

2:51: So that was a big question I had, when I first started here and I think a lot of the public resources, the Chicago Gov resources on voting locations and everything you need to get your voter ID, all of these things, they really helped me out. 

3:07: It’s a pretty streamlined process online. 

3:09: What encouragement do you have for those who need to still understand the overall importance of voting? 

3:14: People that may not care that much or just aren’t literate to it, what encouragement do you have for them? 

3:20: It’s so important to be involved in your community and even if it’s very overwhelming and learning a different,

3:30: thing in a new place, it’s worth it because you’re helping out a community, you’re helping out smaller parts that go into a bigger, bigger issue. 

3:42: I feel like everyone should just do their research, go back and look at things that weren’t approved or things that we didn’t  access to, and after voting,

3:52: how that changed and what changed has happened for now so that they can get a better gist of things that we could do for the future.

3:59: All the problems that we all have, I mean, we’re all, you know, no one, most people aren’t doing great, you know, in this economy, everyone has grievances, you know, you talk to anyone about what’s going on in their neighborhood or just their personal life and something’s wrong, right? 

4:15: Like something needs to be fixed, something needs to be addressed, whether it’s macro or micro. 

4:20: And a lot of these things can be addressed

4:24: through local government, right? 

4:25: Through voting and getting involved, and you have to kind of be the change you want to see. 

4:29: So, if you feel like all of these things are going wrong, all these things are bothering you in your community, really the only power you have is to get out there and vote and do something. 

4:40: If you need to understand how to vote or how to know if you’re registered, try coming next Tuesday to the Talk to a Voter Registration Genius info session from 11 to 1 on the 1st floor of the Student Center. 

4:57: Make sure to stay up to date with campus and Metro News at columbiachronicle.com. 

5:02: I’m Cameron Johnson. 

5:03: Thanks for listening and until next time. 

Copy edited by Mia Smith