We’ve all heard that every vote counts, but every election season it seems the voices of the youth are discounted. While there are always great resources and incentives to vote around election day, such as trading your “I Voted” stickers for a slice of pizza, there has been a lack of encouragement for people to get to the polls in years without a presidential election.

The younger generation of voters constantly has the lowest voter turnout. This means that the voices of the youth have been underrepresented when electing government representatives.

Understandably, the media coverage so vastly differs from the presidential election to the more local elections like mayoral and city council races. Nonetheless, this loss of coverage and lack of encouragement to get to the polls is one reason why young people don’t vote in the elections that are closer to them and for that reason more important.

Generation Z eligible voters should be encouraged and assisted to receive an “I Voted” sticker more than just every four years a president is selected.

The polls should be just as crowded for years when an Austin ISD board member election is taking place, and there should be the same resources to vote readily available to young voters to aid them in getting easily informed and registered to vote. High school students deserve to be encouraged to vote no matter the year and have the support to easily register to vote. It’s these technicalities and obstacles that stop so many younger voters from voting.

Younger voters are not the only ones lacking when it comes to voting in local elections. This imbalance of attention towards these elections causes the voter turnouts for every age group to be drastically down. If we want a more representative government, one of the first steps is to start voting more in local elections. The change one wishes to see in the world starts by exercising our vote locally.

While the president does make overarching decisions, he is not the only one capable of creating change. It’s these nearby policymakers that make the decisions that affect us the most. The way to effect change in your local community is to register and vote in local elections.