Today is Election Day, and while many students aren’t eligible to vote yet, it’s crucial to ask: Are they prepared to vote effectively when the time comes?

One of the most key items to voting is staying well informed in elections, propositions, and researching the ballot. While students are able to take classes to learn more about elections, some students may choose not to vote in general elections and might not be informed well enough about the elections. People may vote for the wrong reasons, plus voting can mean something different for each individual.

Destiny Jimenez, a senior, takes AP Government and she’s learning about props, elections, and the pros and cons of saying yes or no to different props, so she knows a good amount of information about voting and what each of the candidates stand for. To her, voting is a privilege and it’s a principle to stay informed about it. 

“Essentially, just kind of exercising a right that people fought for so long, as in, like I’m a woman so,” Jimenez commented

There are challenges students face voting, especially in a low income community, and considering that we come from a low income community, it’s important to know what you’re getting into when voting and making careful decisions. What people vote for can and will impact our country and it’s best to acknowledge the pros and cons of who they’re voting for. 

“I would call myself relatively well informed. And considering, like, the background, like you’re saying, where we come from in this community, I think that just makes me practice a lot more empathy and understanding when I’m making decisions and, like, when I’m voting, just so that I can take into consideration what our community needs as a whole,” said Jimenez. 

While it’s important to take the general election into consideration, it’s also important to focus on local elections as well since it affects us and Jimenez agrees with their importance to the community.

“Local elections, I would say are probably the most important elections over most of these national elections, because we’re making more of an impact on what’s actually going to affect us. And I think that I’ve tried my best to be as well informed as possible and I can just go from there,” noted Jimenez. 

It’s important to acknowledge the importance of voting and what to know before you vote. Election Day is considered to be one of the most important and life changing aspects of American politics, as it can change our country, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worst, it’s encouraged that you get informed before you decide to vote.