Only 25 percent of registered voters in Cicero voted this last election.

On November 4, 2022, the midterm elections were held. Here in Illinois, it meant a chance for a new governor to be elected.  This year’s Illinois State governor election included the following candidates: J.B. Pritzker, Darren Bailey, and Scott Schluter who were of the Democratic, Republican, and Libertarian parties, respectively. JB Pritzker, who was elected governor of Illinois in 2019, was reelected in this year’s race. He won with 54.6% of the votes (2,194,588 votes). In recent years the importance of young people voting has risen.

With the recent midterm elections passing it was the best time for young first-time voters to put out their voices, but, out of the around 33 thousand voters registered in Cicero only around 8 thousand of them voted. It got us questioning why people aren’t voting.

We asked seniors in a recent survey if they had ever been encouraged to vote 58% of them said that they didn’t know if they were ever encouraged to vote as if it wasn’t made obvious to them.

“Growing up, I wasn’t really told to vote so I assumed it wasn’t important,”  Senior Jesus Martinez said

Although adults think otherwise.

“Voting is your civil duty” Civics teacher Ms. Sofia Sandoval said.

So maybe it is more important than we think.

“I remember being told by teachers that once we’re 18 we should vote for who we believed conveyed the same ideology as me,”  Senior Jimmy Farias said.

Some students have also seen changes and have been more encouraged.

“I remember not being told much about voting as I was growing up, but recently I feel like adults are pushing younger people through ads and campaigns” Cristian Rivera a senior here at Morton said.

So, why vote?

“Voting is important, for those who are willing and able, to share their thoughts on who they feel should be in power. Voting is especially important on a local basis since these are laws and lawmakers who will have a direct impact on our day-to-day lives. While I understand that some might not want to vote for state and federal elections for a variety of reasons, it still is important as these are people that can appoint judges, create new laws, and have a financial impact on our lives. Though, I can’t blame anyone for not wanting to vote if the candidates are unappealing or didn’t earn their vote. That says more about the two-party system than the fault of the voter,” civics teacher Ms. Lopez says.

Young people have been more vocal about what they believe and who they support online but it doesn’t transfer to voting. We are being more encouraged to vote every year yet when it comes the time we don’t.  We have to start voting so we can make the change we want.