Many of us are stepping into this school year as newly minted constituents, who may or may not care about politics, or who wins the 2024 presidential election. But what we do care about is our own futures. Politics dictate what internship opportunities we’ll have, what future employment salaries will be, how free we are to express ourselves, and how much funding our school will get to help pay your tuition. There are so many repercussions of simply understanding our civic process — and very few of them have anything to do with the candidates themselves.

Presidential candidates come and go. Statutes, laws, and ideas, however, don’t — they can exist for many years and transcend the legislators and ideologies who enacted them. This is the crux of the many voting related conversations I’ve had this past semester. Over the past few months, I’ve talked to about 300 students about registering to vote. Out of those students, there are three distinct categories of responses to the question “have you registered to vote yet?” Some say they are registered to vote, and intend to vote on Tuesday; some are registered, but either don’t understand or don’t agree with either party, and don’t see the point of voting; and a few who don’t intend to register at all.

A disproportionate number of students fall under this second category of passive engagement. They understand that voting is important, but why and how is irrelevant. There is a common misconception about voting and what its effect is. So often, we get lost in the partisan rhetoric wherein the only two ways to vote are “Democrat” and “Republican.”

It’s so easy to lose sight that these are embodiments of ideals — not very inclusive ideals, but ideals nonetheless. We as a society have strayed from the days of political compromise — the notion of gridlock has become so synonymous with politics that you can’t find discussions of one without the other.

This mold is a toxic one, but fortunately, it’s not impossibly unbreakable. Sure, federal elections are a dualistic choice, but people often forget about the power of municipalities, localities, states and ballot initiatives. These smaller scale races and ballot questions are the grounds upon which the bells of democracy still ring true. I would argue that in modern day society it could prove just as worthwhile to vote in school board and county trustee elections as it is to vote for a presidential candidate.

Policy comes from propagation of values, and a general education of questions. Simply informing yourself is the easiest way to become engaged in the political process, and the best part is that it doesn’t have to be time consuming.

I urge everyone to take ten minutes this weekend and explore your options and resources. Read your local ballot in the morning while you’re on the train or locate your polling place while you procrastinate doing your homework. Find out who your house representative is and what voting precinct you’re in. Just make sure to do your due diligence as a student and a citizen.

Students are not a monolith, and it’s time we show that. We are a wealth of ideas, complexities, aversions, and desires. To lump us all together in a dichotomy of labels is to do an injustice to all of us. So don’t prove the establishment right. Get out on Tuesday the 5th and vote!