Student Voting

According to today’s college students, young people are freethinking and rather opinionated individuals, but some doubts do remain among young voters, doubts that one vote cannot make a difference. However, among various UT students, and young people in general, the idea of having a voice is overriding those doubts.

A common voting ideal among college students is having a unique, educated “voice,” especially when an individual wants some sort of change or improvement in the societal issues they experience each day.  After all, today’s “college kids” are the next generation, the generation that will eventually lead the country and will ultimately decide on the solutions for the nation as a whole.

Recently, the youth voter registration organization, Rock the Vote, released a video encouraging young people to vote with the slogan “We Will.” The video emphasizes the idea that many college aged students come to question: Will our vote matter? Will we make a difference?

“We will be counted, we will matter…stand our ground. We will vote because we matter,” the organization encourages in the video geared towards the diverse, “Millennial Generation.”

“Standing ground” for Justin Murphy, a UT junior, means making a difference, having a duty for making his country a better place. Murphy is relatively open about his political views and explained his vote can help fix the current issues our nation holds.

“I did my part in fighting against Obamination!” Murphy said while joking about the matter and his views.

Although he has strong Republican beliefs, Murphy stated that whether a person is a Republican, Democrat, or Independent, everyone should do his or her part by voting, but for a good, genuine reason. Like most of the students interviewed, Murphy expressed the importance of being educated about a candidate and not just checking a name on a ballet without thoroughly knowing why that person is the best possible choice.

Cherie Bugtong, also a UT junior, has a more liberal stance in contrast to Murphy, but similarly shared the importance of voting. Bugtong discussed the benefits we, as Americans, have in this country. She believes it would be a waste if a person did nothing by not voicing his or her ideas, especially when people in other nations do not even have such an opportunity.

Bugtong explained how some students openly express their political feelings and disgusts, but do not put in the effort to fix the very issues they speak against. Quite simply, Bugtong explains if a person does not put their voice into the public, whether it is through a vote or demonstration, there cannot be a remarkable amount of change.

“Giving up means letting other people make your decision,” stated a representative for the university group, UT Votes.

She continued on to voice that a lot is at stake for young people as well as minorities and women, so the group does their part in encouraging fellow students to register and vote in November. On September 22, the group posted voter registration fliers around numerous West Campus apartments in preparation for National Voter Registration Day (September 25). The organization hosts a “Voterama” to encourage fellow students to vote. The all-night event takes place in the West Mall of the UT campus. 

“An individual votes, but a group of individuals collectively choose,” UT Votes expressed in a final statement.

They believe in the idea that an individual vote cannot make a difference in such a large, diverse nation. The group continues to work to boost voting confidence and help spread the message that a group of young individuals can, in fact, have an impact on the nation.  

About Miriam

Miriam is a photojournalism student at the University of Texas in Austin. She was born in Houston, but has lived in several different places due to her father being in the Army. She has lived in Houston, Virginia, Killeen and now resides in Austin. Before coming to Austin, Miriam was a student at Ellison High School in Killeen, Texas. She was apart of Ellison’s Leadership Academy program, which lead her to working on a project involving local Autistic children during her senior year.

Miriam has strong interests in art and music, but is passionate about photography and writing. Her interest in photography began while she was a sophomore in high school, but became stronger when she got her first DSLR camera the following year. Because of this passion for photography, Miriam looked for creative outlets among school and friends. Several of her friends were also photographers, but her high school did not have any kind of photography class or program. The summer before her senior year, she began planning a possible club for her school. That fall, the Ellison Film & Photography Club had been created and participated in different kinds of projects. After graduation, Miriam continued on with her interest in photography. After seeing a post on Facebook from the reggae/hip-hop star, Matisyahu, Miriam sent in a brief portfolio of her work to the Matisyahu team and was selected to photograph the musician at his 2011 summer show in Houston. The opportunity completely surprised Miriam since her photography had only been a self-taught hobby before that moment. The following fall, Miriam began her first semester at UT, where she took her first photography class with professor, Dennis Darling. The class aided Miriam’s raw photography skills with new technical aspects of the art that not only improved her photography work, but also allowed Miriam to realize her possible future as a photojournalist, not just a photographer.

Aside from photography, Miriam has dabbled in film/audio work. The club she created in high school did incorporate some filming. In addition, Miriam’s older brother graduated from UT with Film & Rhetoric Writing degrees, so she often assisted with his personal and school related projects. During the fall of 2011, Miriam helped her brother by filming a portion of a small town event in Mart, Texas for the Mart Community Project.