Power Vote

Election season is over, and organizers are finally seeing some blank spaces on their calendars. Even beyond the presidential race, the climate movement has made some real progress. Going forward, how can we convert our momentum into meaningful change? This is a great forum to generate new ideas, and I've got some thoughts to get us started.

First, let's look at where we stand now. As a group, young voters reasserted our power in this election. Despite some predictions, youth turnout was even higher than in 2008, swinging at least eighty electoral votes . Meanwhile, several states chose climate-friendly congresspeople over their anti-environmental opponents.

Amidst the celebration that the election is finally over (was that the longest campaign ever, or was it just me?) and that the candidate that I hoped would win, won I'm left with a sort of bitter sweetness. Sure there are lots of things to celebrate with four states passing marriage equality laws, record breaking youth-voter turnout, and the popular vote and electoral vote both standing on the side of good, but what about those things that didn't go so well.

Being a Floridian through and through is usually something I like to brag about. I mean nearly every day of the year here is 80+ degrees and we have warm ocean waters surrounding us on three sides... But then an election comes around and I am thrown into shame. Why is it that we can't seem to get our shit together? We've only been a state (ie. holding elections here), oh for the last hundred and sixty-seven years.

Today, on November 6th, I voted in my first presidential election. In Maryland, a politically active state bordering our nations capital, many young people spend years waiting for the first time they can vote; I remember having dreams the night before election day that I was old enough to vote in that years election. But for me, this is much bigger than my first election. Because this year, the future of my climate is at stake.

Maryland is a diverse state; travel the 199 miles from east to west and you will cross from appalachian farmlands to the dense urban landscapes of Washington DC and Baltimore, from quiet suburbs to noisy beach towns. But one thing you can find anywhere is a fossil-fuel power plant. Across the state, there are 29 power plants-12 of which are concentrated in the Baltimore region alone. All of these power plants lead to thick, polluted air. As a child, it seemed like every Summer day was classified as "Code Red Ozone Alert" - which meant my friends with asthma couldn't come out. Maryland has a nearly 1-in-5 childhood asthma rate statewide - that ratio grows to nearly 1-in-3 when you get to Baltimore city, one of the worst rates in the entire country.

One of the biggest regrets I have is not voting in my first presidential election, the 2008 election.

At the time it was one more thing to think about while planning to live abroad. As the election drew near, I could feel the buzz of it in France and within the community of American students I studied with. On election night, every American student I knew in my town stayed up all night as the results came in, myself included. But I didn't know that every time after that the '08 election is mentioned, that sinking feeling in my gut would reappear as my friends recount their experiences. 

I wish one of my peers had told me "your vote is important, here's how to make sure your vote counts."

This year is different. I have spent every day of the last few months talking with every young person I know and meet about their right to vote and how to utilize it.

Tonight, just like waiting to open presents on Christmas morning, I am eagerly awaiting going to my polling location tomorrow. Tomorrow will be my first time voting in a presidential election. After, I will wear my "I Voted" sticker proudly and then I will go to the phones, again. And I will talk to my friends, again. And I will go on facebook, again. 

Your vote is important. Now get out there and vote!