Sydney Hackenberg | staff writer

With fall around the corner, there is a lot of excitement and happenings for college students to look forward to: the Starbucks fall menu, the return of professional football and hockey games and the commencement of sweater weather.

There is also an important responsibility of adult and college life that is often forgotten — voting.

It seems simple — finding the nearest polling place, filling in some circles, picking up an “I voted” sticker and moving on with your day. Some people, like myself, looked forward to voting and getting a chance to make our voice heard in a politically tumultuous environment. Other college-aged students neglect to make it to the polls come the first Tuesday in November. There is a large population of students that don’t take advantage of their right to vote. For some context, in the 2024 election, 76% of students were registered to vote and only 53% actually voted per numbers according to Tufts University.

This midterm election is especially important. Generally, these elections serve as a check for the president to see how the public has been responding to their policy and decision making. Their importance is amplified in swing states. There are currently seven swing states identified according to US Polling Data: Georgia, Arizona, Wisconsin, Nevada, North Carolina, Michigan and last but not least, Pennsylvania.  

Swing states are important stops on campaign tours and key to determining which way an election might sway. Most states tend to side with one party and are consistent; swing states are never consistently Democratic or Republican. The shifting patterns make them very unpredictable, but also susceptible to shifting between which party they side with year after year. In November, four of these seven states are having their own senatorial races.

I promise I’m trying to get to a point and not just bore you with election logistics, but there’s a lot to know about these midterms.

The senatorial elections in the four swing states are vital to Congress being able to continue passing legislation and making progress for the country. With such a dramatic split between Democrats and Republicans, Congress has been at quite a standstill and unable to pass much policy. Only 0.6% of presented bills have turned into law in the 119th Congress, according to the Bills in Congress website. That is an astonishingly low number, making the senatorial races so important this fall.  

Decisive policy makers need to be put into office to ensure that bills are actually being passed. The constant immobility in Congress is halting any potential developments. Congress’s inability to agree resulted in the longest government shutdown in history. Federal workers were furloughed or even worked without pay, SNAP-funded families lost their benefits and healthcare programs faced delays and loss of services, according to White House data.

As college-aged individuals, we are one of, if not the most important voting group at this time. Not only are we independent and able to make informed decisions, but we come from diverse backgrounds that offer fresh ideas.

The vote from college students is especially important as we make up such a large demographic of the voting population. From the ages of 18-29, there are 50 million eligible voters.

But not showing up to the polls isn’t entirely at the fault of college students. For some, they are currently living too far away from their representative district at home. I know this is my struggle as my district is almost four hours from Duquesne. While requesting a mail-in ballot is a valid option, many fear that their vote will be lost in transit or not counted. Going home just to vote isn’t much of an option for me, so I’m taking the step and putting my faith in the United States Postal Service.

The pivotal step in voting — registering to vote — isn’t easily accessible either. In-person voter registration drives are few and far between, especially in more rural communities. Most turn to online registration, which is often a more complicated process than it should be. A freshman college student from Virginia, Henry Pilon, told The News House, the Syracuse University newspaper, “[He] couldn’t find the right website, it was like the 7th link down.”

Even in my own experience, registering to vote online wasn’t the simplest process. The website is somewhat outdated and difficult to navigate once you can finally find the correct link.  

Trust me, I know how frustrating it can be to go through the whole voting process and your concerns are valid. Part of my purpose in writing this article is to ease any woes you may have about voting. Voting by mail-in ballot can be worrisome. While there is uncertainty in if your vote will be counted, there are already specific programs, like the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, to help protect your vote. The city of Pittsburgh — and even Duquesne — have resources to help you request a mail-in ballot or register to vote if you haven’t already. If this has not helped calm your nerves, know that there are countless interest groups out there whose goal is to protect our votes and prevent voter fraud.

If you have read this far, you know just how important this election and all elections are. The stalemate in Congress, swing states, and low voter turnout make this election a pertinent affair. Our age group is going to be key in the next couple of years so establishing yourself as an experienced voter now is vital to our democracy’s future success. I hope to see you all show up to the polls in November!

Sydney Hackenberg can be reached at hackenbergs@duq.edu