As the country prepares for the beginning of the Donald Trump administration, some students who did not vote in the presidential election said they feel compelled to vote in upcoming races.
Several students who did not vote said they felt ambivalent about the two candidates and did not want to have to pick a side in an election where they said there were no good options.
Ashley Franklin, a freshman who ran out of time to vote on Election Day, said the day was characterized by top-notch anxiety.
“Neither candidates were really that preferable,” she said. “I didn’t feel like voting for the lesser of two evils.”
Franklin and Mike Matve, another freshman who did not vote, said they believed their votes did not matter and Indiana would vote Republican regardless, especially with Indiana Gov. Mike Pence running as Trump’s vice president.
“Even if I had voted, Bloomington still would have been blue, and Indiana still would have been red, and Hillary Clinton still would have had the majority vote, so I don’t feel like my vote really mattered,” Franklin said. “The point of voting is majority rules, and majority did not rule.”
Matve had planned not to vote before the election and said he saw no point in casting a vote in Pence’s home state.
“Fate decided what happened,” Matve said. “To me it was like I don’t care if Hillary wins and I don’t care if Trump wins, but I’m not going to go out of my way to vote for either, especially in such a predominantly Republican state whose governor is Trump’s vice president.”
Both Franklin and Matve said they would have voted if they had known more about what they were voting for and professors’ voting policies.
Franklin didn’t vote early because she planned to vote in person on Election Day, but her class schedule couldn’t accommodate a trip to the polls.
“I had a class at 6 when the polls closed, and my teacher said he would have been OK with me being late if I was voting, but I didn’t know that until I was in class,” she said.
Matve said he did not realize the election was for offices other than the presidency.
“I didn’t realize you voted for other stuff as well, like Congress,” he said. “By the time I learned that, it was too late to vote.”
Franklin said she regretted not voting when she realized Trump had won and would make an extra effort to vote in all upcoming elections.
“I had my mom take me out of school early so I could get to work on time and vote in the primaries,” she said. “I’ll do something like that where I can set aside the time to vote.”
Both students said they are planning on voting in upcoming elections and other students who refrained from voting should participate politically in the future.
“It’s just a human right,” Matve said.
Franklin was more passionate about the outcome of the election and urged students to vote with minorities in mind.
“I hope it was for a reason like mine where you just couldn’t help it, but if not you should definitely vote next time, because now we’ve got a president who doesn’t like the majority of people in America,” she said. “If there’s nothing stopping you except for yourself, then go vote.”
