Following the elections on November 6, high school students that have just turned 18 had the privilege to vote in the midterms. Even though we have this privilege, some of us are unaware of deadlines, who to vote for, where to vote, or how to register. Although the information could look it up on the Internet, with the busyness that is the first semester of senior year, it’s easily pushed to the bottom of our to-do lists.

It’s not that people don’t want to exercise their civil rights, but most of the seniors who didn’t vote just simply forgot.

 “I didn’t have a specific reason, but I was just overwhelmed by college apps and schoolwork that it just didn’t come to mind,” senior Christina Pham said. Despite how important it is to vote, many students wish that they would have known more about deadlines so they could cast their ballot. 

Senior Zahva Naeem is working to bring voting information to the students of Parkway Central.

“I think that sometimes it’s difficult to see the impact one person’s vote can have during an election because of the sheer number of votes that are collected, but there have been numerous elections where the winner has been decided by a handful of voters. Also, the U.S. has a somewhat low proportion of citizens who vote so your vote is actually worth more than you think. And either way, expressing your voice and opinion may not always mean that you get the result you want, but at least you’re standing up for what you believe in,” said Naeem. She is working hard to get as many qualifying seniors to voice their political opinions.

Naeem is part of a political club for Parkway that is working to show students the importance of voting in every election. “I’m a part of the PSPF Committee (Parkway Student Political Forum) and we organized a Student-Sponsored Candidate Forum on October 22nd at 7 PM where we had some of the candidates running to be the Representative in the HoR for the 2nd Congressional District for MO, Naeem said.“It’s was a panel with pre-selected questions that have been submitted by Parkway students,” This committees goal is to educate interested individuals to participate in our democracy by voting for what they believe in.

As a young adult, it’s hard to think that one vote could make a huge impact, but when all combined that one vote turns into thousands.

“The reason I don’t think I would’ve signed up until the next presidential election is because I feel like my vote doesn’t really mean anything just because of how many people will be voting,” senior Nathan Sharp said. “I just think that one extra vote won’t make someone win or lose an election, but I realize that if everyone thinks that way then that’s how elections are won or lost.” These thoughts have crossed many minds because in all honesty, one vote doesn’t seem like it could do anything, but by putting it in perspective, every vote counts

Voting is a right of passage as many are turning 18. Your voice matters and it’s important that in a democracy, you use it to your full advantage so that there’s a chance your ideal government can become a reality. According to Fox 2 News, voter turnout is at an all-time high(over 60%) compared to the previous record of 56%. Thanks to those showing out to share their opinions, the representation allows for many people of different political backgrounds to participate in the elective government.